Councils' spending on biscuits revealed

Councils across the West Midlands have spent tens of thousands of pounds treating guests to buffets with sandwiches, biscuits, coffee, tea and cake, the Express & Star can reveal.

Walsall Council topped the spending chart with an £84,769 bill between June last year and May this year, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed.

The biggest bill Walsall racked up was £3,651 for catering for staff at the General Election count.

Room hire and refreshments for a book launch on March 9 last year cost £772.16 while two events as part of black history month on October 26 and 28 last year cost £1,500.

Walsall's figures also included money spent on mayoral and civic functions, May elections last year, training courses, council and service area meetings and catering for staff.

The tab covered teas, coffees, biscuits, sandwiches, other drinks, machine rentals, related sundries and milk cuplets.

Dudley Council meanwhile shelled out £34,187.74 between its central corporate division and other departments during the financial year ending in April.

The three biggest catering bills for Dudley were £4,750 for an annual council meeting on May 21 last year, £3,096 for a freedom of the borough event on May 13 last year and a St George's event on April 25 last year which totted up to £2,589.

South Staffordshire Council revealed the authority racked up a £20,767.64 bill catering for members and meetings.

Officers at Sandwell, Staffordshire and Birmingham City Councils would not answer the Freedom of Information request as it would have been too costly to retrieve figures for the last year.

Wolverhampton City Council could not provide a total figure before the Express & Star went to press, however, it said it spent £2,474.25 for the annual civic mayor's function on September 22 last year and £1,698 for the mayor's Christmas dinner.