South Tyneside Council spent more than £18,000 on hospitality events last year

South Tyneside Council bosses presented the figures in a report as part of their work to “support openness and transparency” within the local authority.

Leading councillors noted hospitality is extended in a range of circumstances, typically at events that help the council  “promote and recognise civic pride in our community”.

An estimated 1,600 people were hosted at civic events between April 1 2023 to March 31 2024, with hospitality costing £18,593.82 during the period.

The figures relate to annual and one-off events and cover the cost of food, beverages and ancillary spend on event equipment hire and catering staff costs over the year.

However, opposition councillors called for there to be a way for elected members attending such events to “contribute to cover their own costs” and “actually avoid any public money being spent on their food and drink”.

Concerns were also raised about funds being spent on alcohol.

Labour’s Councillor Jane Carter, cabinet member for governance, finance and corporate services, presented the report to the latest meeting of the borough council (on Thursday, September 7).

The deputy council leader said: “It is important that we sometimes spend a little to have such prestigious events and positive spotlight in return, which can only benefit our community in respect of celebration and community cohesion.

“Our civic office also works very closely with the Lord Lieutenant’s office to highlight the incredible people in our community who go above and beyond, volunteering their time to help others.

“This is what civic pride is really about and I fully support us spending a relatively small amount of funding to help us recognise people, which often means inviting them into the town hall and to some of our events.” 

She added: “To me, that isn’t a lot of money to say thank you to our residents.” 

While the biggest events include “exceptional” Freedom of the Borough celebrations and the summer festival, the spending also covers others including Mr Gay Europe, Anzac Day, Mayoress at Home, Christmas celebrations, including light switch-ons, and Remembrance Sunday.

These have included visits from children, community groups, uniformed organisations and the armed forces community, as well as voluntary, charitable and sports organisations.

Councillor David Francis, Green Party leader, welcomed the fact the report now comes before the local authority, but reiterated there should be a mechanism for councillors to “cover their own costs” at such events.

He said: “It’s absolutely fair enough to give hospitality to people that are being celebrated or honoured or recognised for their contribution.

“We need to have that mechanism so that councillors can support these events, and attend these events, but contribute to cover their own costs… to actually avoid any public money being spent on their food and drink.”

He also stressed funds spent on alcohol should be clearly identified in the report and he is “not sure it’s necessary to provide complimentary alcohol drinks to anyone”.

Similar concerns around the need to provide an exact breakdown of how much money was spent on alcohol were also raised by independent councillors.

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Councillor David Kennedy, leader of the South Tyneside Alliance Group, said: “I think it’s totally wrong that any councillor in here can basically support spend like that when we’ve got suffering going on in this borough.”

The report noted across the year the council spent a total of £2,470.90 on the purchase of bar stock, which includes alcohol and soft drinks.

It added: “It is not possible to align spend on alcohol to a specific event, as stock is purchased from a supplier through a competitive procurement process and deployed to stock a bar across a number of events.”

Cllr Carter noted the council “occasionally use an at-cost bar at our events where it is logistically worthwhile to do so” but stressed this “isn’t right for every event” and something they consider during planning processes.

She added she would “ask the question” again on if a full breakdown for alcohol costs could be provided.

In comparison, the previous year’s report showed more than 1,500 people were hosted at civic events between April 1 2022 to March 31 2023, with hospitality costing £22,405.29 during that period.