CUMBERLAND Council has defended its use of corporate credit cards and purchase cards by staff after it was criticised by a west Cumbrian MP.

It follows a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by local political group Putting Cumbria First.

In its response, Cumberland Council confirmed it has 121 corporate cards and 142 school cards – a total of 263 – and each has an individual user.

To date, the council has been asked for - but has as-yet not provided - the monthly spending on any of the cards the council holds, according to Putting Cumbria First.

Group leader Jonathan Davies said: "This is despite a legal requirement under the local government transparency code to provide the spending of the council including the spending on credit cards.

"As well as the spending on each card that the councils have both failed to provide to date."

It is understood that some of the Cumberland Council cards are subject to investigation but, as the investigations are ongoing, no details are yet available.

Mr Davies said: "The council’s failure to disclose the spending since April 2023 on the cards, and the apparent investigations the council has now launched after an investigation by local Party Putting Cumbria First into the council’s finances and credit cards, raises serious concerns."

In a response, relating to the investigations, a council spokeswoman said: "The council is working through legacy processes and, when we discovered this situation, we took decisive action and will continue to do so.

"If anyone has any evidence that there are issues with our financial processes we recommend that they contact us immediately.”

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service this week Mark Jenkinson, the MP for Workington, highlighted a report which was presented to the council's audit committee last week relating to procurement cards.

He said: "The report found that a lack of information around 790 PayPal payments to 199 unverified individuals, totalling £107,000, meant that the council could not be confident that the payments were legitimate."

The MP also highlighted the ongoing investigation and said: "It’s time for the council leadership to come out of hiding and come clean."

He said he was concerned about potential financial mismanagement and that he would be raising his concerns "at the highest level".

He added: "Borrowing is set to soar for day-to-day management of the council, debt provision and repayment is set to make up 15 per cent of the revenue budget – a whole fifth of the average council tax bill every single year – all while council tax is hiked by the maximum amount and frontline services are decimated to pay for the council’s pet projects.

"It is simply not sustainable, and we see from Labour-run Birmingham council where that ends up for taxpayers.”

In response, the council spokeswoman said purchase cards were provided to a number of staff members and added: "They are not intended to replace the corporate procurement process and should only be used where purchases cannot be made through the normal channels... for instance where purchase orders are not accepted, supermarket purchases, online only purchases and emergency payments.

“Cumberland Council inherited the procedures of the former councils. The council has been quick to review these procedures and had already begun to review, harmonise and strengthen these prior to the internal audit review.

“This audit has made some further recommendations including changes to the authorising of payments as well as more training for staff. These recommendations are being implemented.

“Cumberland Council takes the transparency of its spending and compliance with procurement rules extremely seriously which is why we have been quick to carry out this review and implement the recommended improvements.

"These procedures will remain under regular review.

“The audit report makes it clear that payments reviewed relate to legitimate spend within a small number of council areas, providing support to people within the council’s care; the audit identified improvements to current record keeping that the council has accepted and is implementing.”