DoE slashes tea, buns, sandwiches spend by 75%

THE Department of the Environment (DoE) slashed its tea, buns and sandwiches spending by 75 per cent between 2009/10 and 2011/12, following a critical view.
The DoE slashed its hospitality budget by 75 per cent between 2009 and 2012.The DoE slashed its hospitality budget by 75 per cent between 2009 and 2012.
The DoE slashed its hospitality budget by 75 per cent between 2009 and 2012.

In 2009/10 the DoE spent £61,365 on hospitality. This reduced to just £6,881 in 2011/12.

Its agency, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), reduced its hospitality bill from £31,635 to £17,376, during the same time frame.

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And the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) cut hospitality spending from £9,009 to £1,720.

Environment Minister Alex Attwood said: “The Department has critically reviewed, and continues to explore, all opportunities for minimising areas of discretionary spend.

“As a consequence, expenditure on hospitality has decreased by almost 75 per cent between 2009-10 and 2011-12.”

He explained that a £6.7k hike in NIEA hospitality costs between 2010/11 and 2011/12 was due to the transfer of various functions to the NIEA.

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“The reason for the increase of £6,724 in NIEA hospitality costs from 2010-11 to 2011-12 is due mainly to the transfer of the budget and expenditure for the Statutory Advisory Councils (CNCC, HBC and HMC) from the Environmental Policy Division to NIEA,” said Mr Attwood.

“The expenditure would have previously been shown within the Departmental line, excluding agencies. There was also a small number of one off events in 2011-12, e.g. Invasive Species Forum, which contributed to the increase.”

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