13 February 2023 , 00:01
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The Treasury forked out over £3,000 on a set of fine art photographs from the Tate Gallery while Rishi Sunak was Chancellor, Labour has revealed.
Despite already having access to the vast Government Art Collection - some 14,700 works - the purchase was made at the taxpayers’ expense in March 2021.
The figures were revealed as part of a Labour dossier spending on Whitehall’s credit card, known as the Government Procurement Card.
The documents reveal today that the Treasury spent £3,393 buying the “13 fine art photographs” which were exhibited in the department’s Horse Guard Road building.
A minister declined to outline the purpose for the spending when asked by Labour frontbencher Emily Thornberry in a parliamentary question in December last year.
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Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry uncovered the figures (Getty Images)The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "In terms of artwork in the Treasury, the PM when Chancellor was not involved in that decision either.
"It was a non-ministerial decision, I believe related to refurbishment of some of the offices."
In the period between 2020 and 2022 Government departments also splashed out at least £20,000 on “unnecessary corporate branding”, including mugs, USB cables, notebooks and sashes, Labour said.
In September 2020 the Ministry of Justice paid over £4,000 for 850 branded USB cables from Positive Media Promotions.
In one instance, the Home Office spent £584 to ensure all customer facing staff in the Belfast passport office were using the same colour drinking cups, the dossier claimed.
A further £968 was spent by UK visas and immigration in September 2022 on “thermos cups in corporate colour (purple)”.
Responding to a parliamentary question, minister Robert Jenrick did not specify the number of cups purchased, saying only: “The spend was made in accordance with Home office policy”.
The Mirror has previously reported that the Government Property Agency splashed out 500 branded fidget cubes - to the tune of £1,450 - for a civil service live event.
Downing Street insisted that procurement cards save money for the taxpayer.
Asked if the PM would encourage officials to be as frugal as possible, the PM's spokesman said: "As ever, everyone who spends taxpayers money needs to be aware that they are doing just that and as the Government we are very responsible in how we use these cards.
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"But it's important to understand that they are there to serve a purpose and the NAO estimates that using cards typically saves around 35% of transaction costs - or £5 per transaction - compared with traditional."