More than £800,000 was spent on Welsh Government credit cards in 2021-22 — including almost £8,000 at a top restaurant. The newly released figures also show thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money went towards luxury hotels.
In total the 12 months up to April 2022 saw a spend of £821,871.38 across more than 6,000 payments by civil servants. They used procurement cards to spend £7,948.86 at Zou Zou's — an acclaimed New York City restaurant based at the five-star hotel Pendry Manhattan West — and £4,956.49 at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in Manhattan. A Welsh Government spokesman said both payments were for St David's Day events promoting Wales.
By far the highest monthly total came in March — the final month of the financial year — which saw £155,354.49 in payments. That compares to a monthly average of £58,215.14 across the rest of the year.
