Quango chiefs in £33,000 junket to Riviera
A QUANGO funded by the taxpayer and set up to provide affordable housing spent nearly £33,000 sending seven staff to a conference on the French Riviera.
The hotel bill was £1,400 per person per night when the Homes and Communities Agency attended the annual MIPIM International Property Conference in Cannes.
That made a total of £29,400 for three nights, on top of nearly £3,000 travel costs.
The spending came despite the conference host’s website giving details of three-star hotels nearby which charged about £134 per night for a room.
Among those on the paid trip were HCA chief executive Sir Bob Kerslake, chairman Robert Napier, along with the corporate marketing executive, senior corporate marketing executive and the head of marketing.
The details were revealed in answers to Parliamentary Questions posed by the Tories.
Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps said: “In the midst of a recession and with 1.8 million families on the waiting list for a home, it’s unacceptable for the organisation responsible for building affordable homes to be spending so much on putting up so many staff in luxury apartments.
“Under Labour, quangos like this have been living the life of Riley at taxpayers’ expense. It’s time for these ‘quangocrats’ to get back into the real world.”
Sir Bob said the conference offered a unique opportunity to attract international investors. “The accommodation costs in 2009 included the hire of three self-catering apartments to act as offices and venues for business meetings, instead of hiring expensive exhibition space. This year only two members of staff attended.”
