UNI SPENDS £23K ON COUNCIL JOLLIES

• Tens of thousands spent on “away days” for council big-wigs
• Annual meetings held at posh hotels just metres from Cathays campus
• Meanwhile 200 uni jobs to be slashed to keep down costs

Cardiff University

In 2009, the uni spent £3000 on its annual meeting at the pricey Parc hotel. Despite the fact university buildings are only 400 metres away.

Broken down, that’s £1,665 on room hire and £1,573 on food and drink. Let’s hope the sandwiches were worth it.

But wait, it gets worse.

The year before, the uni held its annual meeting at ‘luxury’ St David’s Hotel and Spa in the bay. This meeting came to grand total of £9,182.50!

£2,580 of that was spent on accommodation at the hotel, which comes complete with a luxurious award-winning spa and a hair salon. How lovely.

Luxurious setting at St David’s Hotel

Meanwhile, we are told the uni has to tighten their belts on unnecessary costs.

Apparently things are so bad the vice-chancellor has announced 200 jobs are to be lost. The uni is even offering voluntary redundancy with a year’s paid salary to tempt employees out of their jobs.

This ‘Voluntary Severance Scheme’ is open for a limited time during the next few months, offering up to £30,000 for those who decide to take redundancy.

It sounds like the uni want to cut down on spending pretty urgently.

So why are annual jollies being held at some of the most expensive hotels in Cardiff? Worse still, these hotels are only down the road.

Surely there are plenty of university rooms where council members could get together FOR FREE?

The uni said these important council meetings are held to discuss ‘strategic issues that affect the university’. They said the reason the meetings are held outside of the university is to ensure there is ‘no disruption to teaching and other university activities’.

Does that make it acceptable to spend nearly £10K using St. David’s Hotel and Spa?

Well, a jacuzzi and a blow-dry are essentials…

This information was obtained via Plaid Cymru using the Freedom of Information Act.

St David’s Hotel has tin foil wraps on offer