Spending watchdog fritters away £53,000 on designer office chairs (some costing nearly £900 EACH)

'Casual attitude': Grant Shapps has attacked the Audit Commission for its lavish spending


PICKING UP THE TAB FOR THE AUDIT COMMISSION

  • £8,000 at Newmarket Racecourse
  • £50,000 on lobbyists
  • £40,000 on pot plants
  • £53,000 on office chairs
  • Vetoed: £240k salary for new CEO

It's the sort of figure you might want to take in while sitting down.

The Audit Commission – the Government’s spending watchdog – last year lavished £53,000 of taxpayers’ money on 224 office chairs.

The figure, an average of £236 each, includes two £840 Naughtone Hush chairs, which ­purport to ‘offer sanctuary from the everyday hubbub’.

Officials also bought four ‘eye-catching’ Omni swivel chairs, each costing £854.

The most expensive purchase was a six-seat ‘Track Bench’ at £1,962.

Last night the commission provoked astonishment by defending its purchases as part of a long-term initiative attempt to save money.

However, the watchdog is to be scrapped in the Government’s cull of quangos.

Local government minister Grant Shapps said it was ‘yet more evidence of how under Labour the Audit Commission forgot that its job was to protect the public purse’.

Emma Boon, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said such furniture paid for with taxpayers’ money should be ‘functional and comfortable’.

The commission said it had refurbished several offices ‘to reduce our office space and save money. The chairs were an expense as part of a wider saving initiative’.