I found this article on the Daily Mail site this morning.... I wont comment on it, because it speaks for it self....
The budget for ministers' parties has been quietly increased by 50 per cent - and almost £140,000 spent on an exclusive wine cellar, according to a claim made by the Conservatives.
The unit, based in the Foreign Office, delivers 'official hospitality for all government ministers and Permanent Secretary-level officials'.
Last year, it delivered 208 functions at an average cost of £2,227 per event. Since 1997, it has cost £7.1million to run.
The fund also oversees the administration of the Government wine cellar, and the maintenance of stocks of linen, china, silver and glassware.
Parliamentary questions have also revealed that last year, £137,460 was spent on new stock for the cellar – a rise of 26 per cent on the previous year.
They also show that an 'advisory committee on the purchase of wine', made up of senior officials, meets four times a year at a cost of £10,000.
The unit has recently purchased vintage and non-vintage Champagne, red Bordeaux, white and red Burgundy, white Loire, sweet white Bordeaux, red Spanish, red Italian, red Argentinean, red Australian, red Chilean, red New Zealand, red US, and English still and sparkling white and rosé wines.
Mr Shapps said: 'This investigation reveals a previously unknown Whitehall committee paid to advise government departments which wine they should buy.
'At a time of austerity and fast rising taxes on ordinary families, a 52 per cent increase in the Government's own hospitality budget is simply too much to swallow.'
The Government wine cellar supplies everything from dinners at Chequers, the Prime Minister's country residence, to departmental receptions.
At any one time there are around 39,000 bottles stashed away in the official wine cellar, which is held in the vaults of Lancaster House, just off the Mall in London.
Its exact contents are a closely guarded secret, though it is said to offer 180 individual clarets alone
The budget for ministers' parties has been quietly increased by 50 per cent - and almost £140,000 spent on an exclusive wine cellar, according to a claim made by the Conservatives.
The unit, based in the Foreign Office, delivers 'official hospitality for all government ministers and Permanent Secretary-level officials'.
Last year, it delivered 208 functions at an average cost of £2,227 per event. Since 1997, it has cost £7.1million to run.
The fund also oversees the administration of the Government wine cellar, and the maintenance of stocks of linen, china, silver and glassware.
Parliamentary questions have also revealed that last year, £137,460 was spent on new stock for the cellar – a rise of 26 per cent on the previous year.
They also show that an 'advisory committee on the purchase of wine', made up of senior officials, meets four times a year at a cost of £10,000.
The unit has recently purchased vintage and non-vintage Champagne, red Bordeaux, white and red Burgundy, white Loire, sweet white Bordeaux, red Spanish, red Italian, red Argentinean, red Australian, red Chilean, red New Zealand, red US, and English still and sparkling white and rosé wines.
Mr Shapps said: 'This investigation reveals a previously unknown Whitehall committee paid to advise government departments which wine they should buy.
'At a time of austerity and fast rising taxes on ordinary families, a 52 per cent increase in the Government's own hospitality budget is simply too much to swallow.'
The Government wine cellar supplies everything from dinners at Chequers, the Prime Minister's country residence, to departmental receptions.
At any one time there are around 39,000 bottles stashed away in the official wine cellar, which is held in the vaults of Lancaster House, just off the Mall in London.
Its exact contents are a closely guarded secret, though it is said to offer 180 individual clarets alone.. to go to the news source, click
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