Exclusive:'Obscene': Civil servants react to £10,000 away day for permanent secretary's top team

In August it emerged that Joe Griffin, who heads up the Scottish civil service, had taken seven fellow senior colleagues on a team-building day to Aberdour in Fife.

The team building jaunt was criticised as an appalling use of taxpayers’ money when the government had introduced emergency spending controls.

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Now internal communications seen by The Scotsman show the depth of unhappiness of Mr Griffin’s staff.

The April day out included “refreshments, lunch and snacks”, during a workshop at the International Futures Forum (IFF) headquarters at The Boathouse.

It cost the public purse £8,530 plus VAT, equating to around £1,000 per head for the venue, the workshop and catering.

“£120 a head just for lunch is obscene,” one civil servant wrote in response to a post by Mr Griffin on the internal Saltire system.

“There’s no justification for that, particularly when staff are paying out of their own pockets to buy coffee for visitors to Scottish Government buildings because there's no budget for that.”

Another asked: “Does the Perm Sec feel that this was a good choice of public funds, when staff who have worked incredibly hard get told we have no budget for this sort of thing?”

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Others said they had understood that away days must be self-funded and that there is no budget for any form of catering, even tea or coffee.

At one point in the communications Kirsty Walker, who is Deputy Director of the executive team’s Strategic Governance Office, steps in to thank staff for raising their point on spending controls.

She adds: “This was a rare away day held for a new Executive Team to plan and ensure organisational post-election readiness.

“As per the guidance, this was deemed essential business.”

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However, another disgruntled civil servant steps in to quote guidance which says senior officials must “apply the strictest possible scrutiny when deciding if spending proposals are essential and should rigorously challenge whether the spending is truly necessary”.

Concerns were also raised about procurement for the event, which was hosted by the IFF, a charity that provides staff training.

The government said the retreat did not go out to competitive tender because it had to be organised at short notice.

However, correspondence published on the government’s website shows Mr Griffin planning the event months in advance and choosing handpicking the charity and the venue.

Another civil servant replies to Mr Griffin: “I'd also be interested to learn what the justification was for using the Non-Competitive Action process to award the contract direct to the IFF.

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“There are many organisations which can facilitate this kind of training and the usual process would be to seek at least three quotes to ensure the contract delivers value for money.”

A separate response reads: “I am quite shocked to be honest at that level of spend.

“We are encouraged to build relationships with stakeholders and work with communities across Scotland.

“I have worked in teams across SG which rely heavily on trusted relationships with stakeholders who often represent the most vulnerable in society and I have struggled for the last few years to even get some tea and coffee, cups and even sugar arranged when they meet with us in our offices.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “At a staff event in September, the Permanent Secretary acknowledged the strength of feeling expressed by some staff about the Executive Team away day and recognised the concerns that had been raised on the costs involved.”

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She went on to say Mr Griffin “accepted alternative approaches should be considered in future which could achieve the same objectives.”