Government department defends £350k travel and accommodation spend

Friday 28 June 2019

The government’s Chief Operating Office has defended its £350k spend on accommodation and flights for temporary staff over the past 18 months, claiming there was an urgent need to plug “significant gaps in capacity and capability”.

Released yesterday afternoon, a statement from the department stated that, had these temporary staff not been recruited, there would have been a “real risk to the organisation and to the programme of modernisation.”

The defence came in response to figures released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Law following a request by Express, showing that more than half-a-million pounds had been spent on air travel, accommodation and rental subsidy for temporary government staff.

The newly-created Chief Operating Office - which brings together HR, IT, data security and procurement, and is led by John Quinn, who Express previously revealed to have worked with Mr Parker at Westminster - accounted for more than half of the £589,460 total bill, with expenses totalling £348,152.

Of all the government departments, the Office spent the most on rent subsidy (£27,940).

Pictured: The Chief Operating Office brings together functions including HR, IT, data security and procurement.

The response to Express’ request also explained that temporary staff were sometimes accommodated in serviced apartments, as these are “often cheaper than hotels.”

In their statement, the Chief Operating Office spokesperson confirmed that all expenses incurred by the department were “in line with the government’s travel and accommodation policy.”

Justifying the spend, they said that the new Chief Operating Office, which unites “key back-office services” had been created as a result of the areas it looks after having “suffered from significant underinvestment over many years.”

This, the statement said, led to “significant gaps in both capacity and capability”, which they said would cause problems if not addressed.

Pictured: John Quinn, the government's Chief Operating Officer.

“In some cases, such as in implementing GDPR systems and processes, the Government would have been in breach of regulations if it had not acted swiftly.

“The Government has therefore had to bring in temporary and contract staff quickly to fill the most urgent gaps, where there was a real risk to the organisation and to the programme of modernisation,” the statement read.

“Nonetheless, the spokesperson reassured that “many of these individuals have already left and have been replaced by permanent staff, and we expect to have made permanent appointments into all the key roles in the Chief Operating Office by the end of the year.”

It concluded that the government expected the staff would be able to make savings that justified their appointments and outweighed the spend on their salary and expenses – a message echoing previous claims by the Chief Minister and Health Minister.

“In the meantime, the work that the interims are doing to make efficiencies and savings across the department means that their costs are being recouped… These costs are temporary and will be substantially reduced across the Government as temporary and contract staff complete their work and hand over to permanent appointees.”

READ: See the interims' expenses in full by clicking below...