Thursday 1st August, 2013

Government procurement cards are once more in the firing line as the scale of questionable purchasing practices comes to light. Despite an overall fall in the number of civil servants, over £1m was spent on the tax-payer funded schemes, sometimes for item such as a £927 picture frame.

Matthew Sinclair of the the TaxPayer's Alliance said: "These cards are a great way for taxpayers to scrutinise how their cash is spent but only if itemised bills are published, not just what the authorities want us to see."

Margaret Hodge, Chairman of the Commons public accounts committee said "The controls are not strict enought to deter and prevent inappropriate use."

Designed to capture savings from several low cost, high volume purchases, the procurement card scheme has in some cases failed to accurately detail many of the transactions, focussing only on those over £500. However, research has found that 94% of the transactions fell below this threshold.