Rayner's housing quango bosses spend thousands on hospitality and travel
Officials at Homes England have spent £240,000 on travel, hospitality, food, accommodation and office supplies since 2021.
The revelation comes after Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, allocated £39 billion for affordable and social housing over the next 10 years in the spending review. Homes England, set up in 2018 to fund more affordable housing across England, will distribute 70 per cent of this money.
The quango defended the spending as necessary for executives who travel for work and said there was a strict approvals process for expenses.
Joanna Marchong, investigations campaign manager of the TaxPayers' Alliance, which obtained the data through Freedom of Information (FoI) requests, said: 'Taxpayers will be dismayed that Homes England bureaucrats are racking up more expenses.
'This is a clear example of a runaway quango. Rather than supporting the Government's new house-building targets, they are piling extra costs onto construction companies making new homes.
'If Labour want any chance of hitting their housing targets, ministers must get a grip on Homes England and focus on getting spades in the ground.'
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