DHSC staff are economising on hotels while their health ministers are spending more per night spent in hotels. Wes…
Guido’s FOI Unit has found that health ministers nearly doubled their per-night hotel spending in a single year, from £139 to £261. That is an 87% increase from the financial year starting in 2024 to the next one. Ministers stayed fewer nights (down from 13 to 9) but somehow spent more in total: up from £1,812 to £2,348. Penthouse rooms all round?
Meanwhile, departmental staff cut their hotel nights by 30% and their total bill by 25%. Staff per-night costs rose 7% (£120 to £129). The ministerial increase is 12 times that rate – the gravy train keeps rolling…
Paula Barker, Liverpool Wavertree MP backing Andy Burnham, told Times Radio there wouldn’t be trouble from the markets under Burnham:
“The markets will have to fall in line.”