Commons staff spent hundreds on cinema trips, football kits and a book on facial hair

Commons staff spent hundreds of pounds on cinema trips and football kits on government credit cards, it has been revealed.

Some £340 was spent by the staff for ‘office supplies’, according to a Freedom of Information request by the BBC.

The majority of that – £200 – was spent on football kit and another £140 was claimed for cinema visits with government cards.

It is not known which films the staff went to see.

A Commons spokesman told the broadcaster that the items had followed purchasing policy as ‘genuine business transactions’.

Among other claims made included £30 spent on a book about facial hair. The book was called ‘Framing the Face: New perspectives on the History of Facial Hair’.

Another £1,500 was claimed for trips to the pub, apparently for ‘educational and parliamentary’ outreach purposes.

Staff also spent £1,699 in luxury US department store Barney’s, although this money was later returned, reported the BBC.

Most popular on Yahoo News UK

Couple devastated after vet accidentally gives their puppy lethal injection instead of medicine
Mysterious heat source beneath Antarctica could be melting ice, NASA believes
Woman ‘caught trying to buy £1,400 worth of electronic goods for £3 at self-service checkout’
Vicious thug who left pensioner, 88, black and blue after robbing her in her bed is jailed
Fitness addict, 56, crushed to death by his own gym equipment in freak accident

However, a House of Commons spokesman said all the items listed were ‘genuine business transactions’.

‘The procurement cards allow some members of the House of Commons service to pay for low value items in a cheap, secure and quick way,’ the spokesman add.

In total, the BBC study found that £630,000 was spent using the cards over the last two years.

There are 205 cards being used for staff.