49 pages of secret expenses on fruit cake, stays at the Hilton, first class travel & taxis for councillors
John Brace
49 pages of secret expenses on fruit cake, stays at the Hilton, first class travel & taxis for councillors
At the end of this piece are 49 pages of invoices paid directly by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority. If a councillor pays for a meal or a taxi fare but claims the money back, it’s included in the annual totals for each councillor. You can view the table of annual totals for each councillor that was on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority on the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority website.
The pages of expenses below that cover stays in hotels, train fares and meals (which would usually be in the travel and subsistence or overnight categories of expenditure of that table) aren’t included. Below is what Regulation 15(3) of the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 states what should be included. Recipient refers to a recipient of a payment under the allowances scheme.
15. Records of Allowances
….
(3) As soon as reasonably practicable after the end of a year to which the scheme relates, an authority shall make arrangements for the publication within the authority’s area of the total sum paid by it in the year under the scheme to each recipient in respect of each of the following—
(a) basic allowance;
(b) special responsibility allowance;
(c) dependants’ carers’ allowance;
(d) travelling and subsistence allowance; and
(e) co-optees’ allowance.
In that letter Janet Henshaw (Monitoring Officer for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service) writing on behalf of the Wirral councillors wrote:
“It was not possible to show travel & event bookings made directly by MFRA [Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority] (as opposed to members paying and then claiming back their allowances) due to the fact that this Authority uses an electronic software system to make each booking at the cheapest possible price for both members and officers. We were invoiced monthly in the last year for both Officers and Members without differentiation. Thus it would have been a wholly unreasonable use of scare resources to break this down each month between the two groups and then each and every individual.”
CFO on one of the receipts refers to the Chief Fire Officer Dan Stephens. DCFO refers to the Deputy Chief Fire Officer Phil Garrigan. As some of the names of the councillors below will be unfamiliar to readers I include a key below. The key has the name of the councillor, political party, which local authority they represent (or represented as Cllr Ted Grannell and Cllr Tony Newman are no longer on the Fire Authority) and whether they hold the position of Chair or Vice-Chair on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority.
Cllr Dave Hanratty, Labour, Liverpool, Chair Cllr Linda Maloney, Labour, St Helens, Vice-Chair Cllr Leslie T Byrom, Labour, Sefton, Vice-Chair Cllr Ted Grannell (down on invoice as Ted Grenell), Labour, Knowsley Cllr Tony Newman, Labour, Knowsley Cllr Steve Niblock, Labour, Wirral
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 1 Cllr Linda Maloney Hilton Newcastle Gateshead £105Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 2 Email about Cllr Hanratty and Cllr Maloney staying at the Tavistock Hotel LondonMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 3 Tavistock Hotel Cllr David Hanratty Cllr Linda Maloney £214Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 4 Tavistock Hotel Cllr David Hanratty Cllr Linda Maloney continuedMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 5 Tavistock Hotel Cllr David HanrattyMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 6 Imperial London Hotels Cllr Linda Maloney £81Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 7 Cllr Linda MaloneyMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 8 email about Cllr Hanratty and Cllr MaloneyMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 9 Hilton Newcastle Gateshead Cllr Hanratty £105Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 10 Tavistock Hotel Cllr Hanratty Cllr Maloney £214Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 11 Tavistock Hotel Cllr Hanratty Cllr Maloney booking summaryMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 12 Tavistock Hotel Cllr Hanratty £81Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 13 Cllr HanrattyMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 14 Cllr Byrom Hilton Newcastle GatesheadMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 15 Cllr ByromMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 16 Cllr Byrom and Dan Stephens £8 90 snacks on train West Coast Trains LtdMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 17 Cllr Byrom and Dan Stephens £11 15 McDonald’s Westminster LondonMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 18 Cllr Byrom Dan Stephens West Coast Trains Limited fruit slice tea latte £5 65Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 19 Cllr ByromMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 20 Hotel LaTour Birmingham £270Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 21 Cllr Byrom Cllr Maloney Hotel LaTour Birmingham refreshments £290Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 22 Expotel £1123 60Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 23 ExpotelMerseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 24 Expotel Cllr Dave Hanratty Bournemouth train £50 59Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 25 Expotel hotel accommodation £1413 34Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 26 Expotel Cllr Hanratty Balmoral Hotel Bournemouth £176 20Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 27 Expotel £102 40Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 28 Expotel Balmoral Hotel Bournemouth Cllr Hanratty £51 20Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 29 Cllr Byrom £137Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 30 Cllr Byrom £137Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 31 Capita £1314 45Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 32 Capita Cllr Hanratty £88 60Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 33 Capita £2857 11Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 34 Cllr Hanratty £219 Cllr Byrom £219 Cllr Byrom £308 Cllr Maloney £219Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 35 invoice for train tickets Cllr Hanratty £219 Cllr Byrom £219 Cllr Byrom £308 Cllr Maloney £219Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 36 invoice for train tickets continued Cllr Hanratty £219 Cllr Byrom £219 Cllr Byrom £308 Cllr Maloney £219Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 37 £3530 84Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 38 Cllr Byrom train fare £127 50Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 39 Capita invoice £1750 43Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 40 Expotel invoice £160 19Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 41 Expotel invoice Cllr Byrom train fare £160 19Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 42 Expotel £129 85Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 43 Cllr Dave Hanratty train fare £39 69Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 44 Expotel invoice £678 02Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 45 Expotel invoice train fare Cllr Hanratty Cllr Byrom £386 09Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 46 Expotel invoice train fare Cllr Byrom £192 96Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 47 Cabfind.com Cllr Ted Grenell £13 80 Cllr Newman £25Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 48 Cabfind.com Cllr Newman £22 Cllr Newman £22Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority councillors expenses page 49 Cabfind.com Cllr Grannell £13 80 Cllr Niblock £25 Cllr Grannell £13 80 Cllr Niblock £25 Cllr Niblock £42 20 Cllr Niblock £10 90
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