CUMBRIA County Council have explained the majority of a £1m expenses bill was on staff 'delivering frontline services'.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request shows the total spent on purchase/business expenses for council staff in the year up to November 8 2021 as £982,889.82 with the majority of that (92 per cent) being spent on mileage.

A spokesman for Cumbria County Council said: "The expenses figures for 2020/21 represent a significant reduction from the year before, and the majority of business mileage is in relation to staff delivering frontline services - the main elements being direct care delivery through the Council’s in house provider Cumbria Care, adult and children’s social work, support to schools, highways service and registrars.

"With regards to ‘no details in the ledger’, these are expenses that have all been individually approved by managers in accordance with our expenses policy under the heading ‘expenses – other.’"

In the response from Cumbria County Council, it explained: "Business expenses in this instance is anything that a staff member spends (potentially from their own finances to get reimbursed at a later date. Typical examples will be fuel; hotel stays on council business; stationery.

"The council does not hold purchase/credit cards for this type of expenditure, we have corporate contracts and should staff incur expenses on behalf of the council they reclaim them via payroll expenses (iTrent)."

For 2020/21 the following expenditures were reimbursed to council staff:

- Meals: £2,362.70

- Rail fares/taxis: £5,775.42

- Accommodation: £1,961.59

- Fuel: £5,395.43

- Parking: £5,053.58

- Contribution to desks for home (max £80): £22,178.41

- Fire Service phone allowance: £6,520.75

- Business mileage: £904,846.14

- No details held in General Ledger: £28,795.80

- Total: £982,889.82

This total is separate to the allowances councillors are given across the county where a total of £975,032 can potentially be used by councillors, according to the Cumbria County Council Website.

The level of allowances is recommended by the Independent Remuneration Panel, made up of people independent of the council.

All councillors (or elected members as they are also known) receive a basic allowance of £8,744 to perform their duties.

These include:

- Preparing for and attending all formal and informal meetings that they are invited to meetings with constituents

- Dealing with enquiries from their constituents

Some elected members receive an additional allowance for any special responsibility that they might have as a member of the council, such as being a cabinet member or a committee chairman.