Public Spending

Robert Halfon Excerpts

Thursday 17th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

Is the Minister aware that, under the previous Government, the Department for Communities and Local Government spent £134,000 on luxury sofas? Is not that an example of the obscene waste that has led to the tough decisions that we have to make today?

[Danny Alexander]

I was not aware of that Department’s spending on luxury sofas—perhaps I should have been. It is precisely that kind of expenditure on which we need to bear down heavily in the context of the spending review and through the efficiency and reform group that we have established, to ensure the maximum amount of space in Departments’ budgets to spend on the front-line services that Members on both sides of the House care about.