Dartford Council takes the biscuit

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act after a request by News Shopper, show last year Dartford Council spent £1,074 on biscuits for meetings and functions. This was compared to £951 the year before - an increase of £123.

It was suggested that if the council spent its biscuit fund wisely its members would have been able to munch its way through 4,881 packets of economy digestive biscuits. And if it shared out these biscuits fairly, with an average of 20 biscuits a pack, each of the 44 councillors would get around 43 each week.

Council leader Councillor Jeremy Kite responded by saying that spending around £24 a year on councillors was not the end of the world: "My days are spent dealing with people who have real problems. I don't spend time thinking about how many biscuits we eat."

Mr Kite wanted to point out that the figures quoted included functions as well, and are not just for the 44 members of the Council. It also includes Council Officers, guests, members of the public and tour parties (including cubs, brownies and schools visiting the Mayor). He added: "For the record, my favourite biscuit is a chocolate chip." So we can expect the budget to go up again next year.

Crumbs! Biscuit cash is revealed (News Shopper UK, 13 February 2007)

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