19 months after asking OFMDFM how much their staff had expended on procurement credit cards, TUV leader Jim Allister has finally got an answer to his Assembly Question.
He has unearthed that 12 staff in OFMDFM operate such cards and that since 2007 a staggering £2.6m has been racked up on them. It seems they have been mainly used for ‘travel and accommodation expenses’!
Commenting Jim Allister said, “The fact that it took the Joint First Ministers 19 months to get over the embarrassment of revealing this information is significant in itself. And well might they be embarrassed in these times of severe austerity.
“A key concern in this regard is what level of accountability and oversight operates in respect of this expenditure. I am calling on OFMDFM to publish a full inventory of all these purchases. Occasional and emergency spend while travelling on credit cards might be understandable, but running up a bill of over £2.6m does raise serious questions as to the application of procurement checks and balances. It is now up to OFMDFM to provide full transparency on this issue.”
Mr Allister’s Q & A:-
Question: To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister (i) how many procurement credit cards are held by staff in their Department; (ii) how much has been expended by this route since May 2007; and (iii) on what was the expenditure incurred.
Answer: The Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister currently holds 12 procurement cards.
£2,659,480 has been purchased using procurement cards during the period May 2007 to 28 June 2014 by our office.
Each procurement card is electronically restricted to specific types of expenditure. The procurement cards are used mainly for travel and accommodation expenses and other costs would include items such as office stationery and equipment expenditure.