LOCAL authorities are being deluged with invitations to conferences that are a waste of public money, a senior Welsh councillor said yesterday. Conservative Peter Davies, who is cabinet member for resources at Newport council, said he was sick of trawling through an increasing volume of correspondence from conference organisers.

Recent invitations included one to hear UK Local Government Minister Rosie Winterton at a conference in London for a fee of £379 plus VAT; one to attend an "enhanced spaces, enhanced learning" conference also in London (£249+VAT); and one to a conference on the UK Government's new Equality Bill (£295+VAT).

Mr Davies said of the Winterton event: "Do these people think that I should pay £435.85 plus the cost of travel to London out of my own pocket? Or charge it to the council taxpayers? Just what benefit would there be to me or my electors in paying more than £500 to listen to a third-tier minister of this clapped-out, discredited band of has-beens in Westminster which endeavours to maintain that it is still governing?

"This has become an industry from which people are making a great deal of money. The conferences wouldn't be organised if councils didn't attend, so it's clear to me that an enormous amount of public money is going down the drain."

Rebecca Cadman-Jones, Chair of the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers, said the industry was worth about £7.2bn a year to the UK economy.

"Public sector conferences are not run to make a profit, and can be very useful for people wanting to keep up to date with the latest policy initiatives," she said.

Aug 27 2009 by Martin Shipton, Western Mail