This is what Lancashire's councils have to say about the £100,000 spent on award ceremonies across the county

Lancashire's councils have responded to the revelation that £100,000 was spent by the authorities on award ceremonies in the last three years.
The 2017 Burnley Business AwardsThe 2017 Burnley Business Awards
The 2017 Burnley Business Awards

The figures released by the Taxpayers' Alliance reveal that £101,942.37 was spent by the red rose county's authorities between 2015 and 2018.

In Preston, £2,200 was spent on award ceremonies.

A council spokesman said: "The figure highlighted in the report relates to the sponsorship of awards over the past few years at the Preston Sports Awards."

The 2017 Burnley Business AwardsThe 2017 Burnley Business Awards
The 2017 Burnley Business Awards

In Lancaster, £1902 was spent by the city council.

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Coun Eileen Blamire, Leader of Lancaster Council, said: “This spend relates to our Celebrating Success awards, which acknowledge the commitment of the city council’s employees and those that go the extra mile to deliver exceptional service.

“Last year the Cleansing and Grounds Maintenance teams received the overall award for the outstanding work they carried out for the residents of Galgate, following the unpredicted floods in November 2017.

“This extremely physical and tiring work took many long hours working in cold, wet and filthy conditions, during which they removed a massive 90 tons of flood damaged debris.

“Staff are the council’s most valuable asset and it is only right that we acknowledge the significant contributions they make in making a difference to the lives of our communities.”

Lancashire County Council refused to submit their figures.

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A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "We responded to the Taxpayers' Alliance request to let them know that because we do not have a unique budget code for awards ceremonies, the resources needed to carry out a manual trawl of records would exceed the limit of £450 set by FOI regulations.

"We hold an event called the Pride Awards once a year, which allows our staff to recognise their colleagues who have gone above and beyond in delivering vital services to the people of Lancashire, and helps to inspire our staff to ensure the quality of those services.

"This is a low-key event for around 100 people organised and hosted by our own staff at our own venue, with buffet food provided and no entertainment."

The data from the Taxpayers' Allowance said that there was no response from Ribble Valley Council.Following up on this, a spokesman from the council said they do not hold any awards events so there are no costs for the authority.

Wyre Council spent £16,811.90 between 2015 and 2018.

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A council spokesman said :"On average we spent a net £5,604 per annum on a ceremony that celebrates local businesses and helps to raise the profile of the area and its business community.

"Wyre’s Business Awards celebrated its fifth year in 2018 and has become very popular, attracting more businesses each year. Plans are already underway for the 2019 event which will take place at Marine Hall on December 5and will be the biggest and best Business Awards yet."

West Lancashire Council spent a total of £9,536.76 over the three years for its annual Lancashire Open Exhibition awards ceremony and the Let's Talk Apprentice Awards in 2016.

A council spokesman said: "Costs of the Lancashire Open Exhibition include prize money and this expenditure has been funded from exhibition entry fees and sales from the exhibitions.

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The Let's Talk Business Apprenticeship Awards in March 2016 recognised the achievements of West Lancashire’s top apprentices and the employers who invest in apprenticeships and to celebrate the success of the Council's Let's Talk Apprentices grant scheme.

"The Council is ambitious for the local economy and has done a lot of work with local businesses encouraging them to take on apprentices which brings benefits to the companies and individuals concerned."