THE Tees Valley Combined Authority spent more than £13,000 on hotels and accommodation in the last financial year (2019), figures show.
In a Freedom of Information request the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) asked the authority – headed by Mayor Ben Houchen – to detail the cost of hotel trips involving its staff and other external partners, which came to £13,017 in 2019/20.
Its reply included:
- A culture and trade visit involving representatives from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who stayed at the five star Rockliffe Hall, near Darlington, at a cost of £437 in March 2019;
- An employee’s stay at a villa in Cannes, France for the MIPIM international property event in which cost £494 in total, also in March 2019;
- A £275 stay for an airport employee along with a representative from airline Eastern Airways at Judges hotel, near Yarm, in February 2019;
- A Teesside Airport consultant who stayed in the Hotel Valencia Center for the Aviation Development conference in Spain October 2019 at a cost of £262;
- Employee stays at the Premier Inn, in Aberdeen, at a cost of £1,323 for the SPE Offshore Europe exhibition in September 2019;
- Accommodation for staff visiting the Great Yorkshire Show, in Harrogate, in July 2019, which cost £634 in total;
- A stay at a hotel at Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport, in Sweden, in June 2019, as part of a cultural partnership, which cost £213.
Mr Houchen only featured twice in the response given, with the combined authority covering the cost of a Premier Inn hotel stay for a meeting in London and again separately with the chain for a conference elsewhere.
The organisation also provided details of its spending on flights following a request by the LDRS.
Between July 2019 and April last year a total of £4,844 was spent on flights to destinations including Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Nice and Paris on 11 occasions for conferences, events, exhibitions and meetings attended by staff.
In addition representatives from the South Tees Development Corporation flew to Nice in April for an event with the bill costing £1,564.
In a statement the combined authority said that it was “striving to provide value for money”.
It said: “As a public body we are constantly striving to provide value for money and cost effectiveness in everything that we do and this extends to booking travel and accommodation when necessary.
“All expense claims are verified internally and the annual sum is included as part of our audited annual financial statements.”
The statement also referred to travel expenses payable to elected members on the authority, stating that these could only be reimbursed for travel outside of the Tees Valley.
However Mr Houchen and Paul Booth, chairman of the Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnership, which brings together councils and businesses to set local economic priorities, were an exception to this.
Councillor Norma Stephenson, chairman of the combined authority’s overview and scrutiny committee, said she was unable to comment on the figures gathered by the LDRS.
But she confirmed the authority’s spending would be under the microscope as part of a detailed consideration of its proposed budget for the next financial year being undertaken by members of her committee.
The combined authority, which is based in Stockton, was created in April 2016 with the primary aim of boosting economic growth in the Tees Valley.
It has been given devolved responsibilities by the Government for business investment, culture and tourism, housing, infrastructure, skills and transport.
The organisation has approximately 109 staff and a chief executive, Julie Gilhespie, who in 2019/20 was paid £165,125 in salary and pension contributions.
Council leaders from the five Tees Valley councils – Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton make up its cabinet, while local councillors are nominated to sit on its various committees.
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