By . Kirsty Walker . PUBLISHED: . 06:28 EST, 12 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 01:56 EST, 13 August 2012 . Public servants racked up £1.15billion on taxpayer-funded credit cards last year – a rise of more than £160million since David Cameron pledged to cut spending on them. Figures reveal how high-ranking public- sector workers blew the money on expenses including five-star hotel stays, meals at fine restaurants and Apple iPads. They are deeply embarrassing for the Prime Minister who, during his general election campaign, spoke of his outrage at ‘hideous waste’ and vowed to reduce the cost of the cards. Plush: The Department of Health paid £2,285 for a stay at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel in Baker Street, London . Sun-kissed: The Kairaba Beach Hotel on the coast of Gambia where civil servants spent £633 of taxpayers' cash on a short stay . The Freedom of Information figures . show that the total spent on the Government Procurement Cards rose from . £987million in 2010 to £1.15billion in the last financial year. The cards are issued to about 150,000 . high-ranking staff such as local authority workers, civil servants, . quangocrats and BBC executives. Among the expenses enjoyed by . officials was a £2,285 stay at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel in London by . civil servants from the Department of Health. Home Office officials spent £1,694 on . trips on the London Eye, while bureaucrats in the Office of Rail . Regulation spent £2,433 on four Apple iPads. Pledge: Prime Minister David Cameron (left) branded the civil servant credit card bills a 'hideous waste' during a TV debate before the last election . Entertaining: Officials from the Home Office spent £1,694 on trips on the London Eye, pictured . The Department for the Environment, . Food and Rural Affairs spent £777 on a ‘working lunch’ at Westminster’s . elite Cinnamon Club Indian restaurant and £1,129 at the five-star Tribe . Hotel in Nairobi. Meanwhile, the Rural Payments Agency spent £837 on a ‘specialist chair’. Earlier this year, the Public Accounts Committee warned of a ‘culture of complacency’ surrounding spending on the cards. The Cabinet Office last night admitted . the spending had increased across the public sector, but insisted: ‘The . amount Whitehall departments spent on GPC fell from £322million in . 2010/11 to £290.5million last year. ‘By clamping down on waste, making procurement smarter and slashing the use of these cards, we’re saving the taxpayer millions. ‘We would of course expect to see local authorities follow our lead on this.’ Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Jon . Trickett said: ‘The Government said it would cut waste and hasn’t – . while making police, servicemen and nurses redundant.’
£777 on a 'working lunch' at trendy London restaurant .
£5,498 at the Westin Chosun Hotel in South Korea .
By . Kirsty Walker . PUBLISHED: . 06:28 EST, 12 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 01:56 EST, 13 August 2012 . Public servants racked up £1.15billion on taxpayer-funded credit cards last year – a rise of more than £160million since David Cameron pledged to cut spending on them. Figures reveal how high-ranking public- sector workers blew the money on expenses including five-star hotel stays, meals at fine restaurants and Apple iPads. They are deeply embarrassing for the Prime Minister who, during his general election campaign, spoke of his outrage at ‘hideous waste’ and vowed to reduce the cost of the cards. Plush: The Department of Health paid £2,285 for a stay at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel in Baker Street, London . Sun-kissed: The Kairaba Beach Hotel on the coast of Gambia where civil servants spent £633 of taxpayers' cash on a short stay . The Freedom of Information figures . show that the total spent on the Government Procurement Cards rose from . £987million in 2010 to £1.15billion in the last financial year. The cards are issued to about 150,000 . high-ranking staff such as local authority workers, civil servants, . quangocrats and BBC executives. Among the expenses enjoyed by . officials was a £2,285 stay at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel in London by . civil servants from the Department of Health. Home Office officials spent £1,694 on . trips on the London Eye, while bureaucrats in the Office of Rail . Regulation spent £2,433 on four Apple iPads. Pledge: Prime Minister David Cameron (left) branded the civil servant credit card bills a 'hideous waste' during a TV debate before the last election . Entertaining: Officials from the Home Office spent £1,694 on trips on the London Eye, pictured . The Department for the Environment, . Food and Rural Affairs spent £777 on a ‘working lunch’ at Westminster’s . elite Cinnamon Club Indian restaurant and £1,129 at the five-star Tribe . Hotel in Nairobi. Meanwhile, the Rural Payments Agency spent £837 on a ‘specialist chair’. Earlier this year, the Public Accounts Committee warned of a ‘culture of complacency’ surrounding spending on the cards. The Cabinet Office last night admitted . the spending had increased across the public sector, but insisted: ‘The . amount Whitehall departments spent on GPC fell from £322million in . 2010/11 to £290.5million last year. ‘By clamping down on waste, making procurement smarter and slashing the use of these cards, we’re saving the taxpayer millions. ‘We would of course expect to see local authorities follow our lead on this.’ Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Jon . Trickett said: ‘The Government said it would cut waste and hasn’t – . while making police, servicemen and nurses redundant.’
at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel in London by . civil on a ‘working lunch’ at Westminster’s . elite