A science and technology unit in Swindon has spent almost £9 on staff flights and travel, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. 

The Swindon Advertiser report:

A RESEARCH council in Swindon has come under fire for shelling out nearly £9m in the last three years to send staff on overseas trips, including to Hawaii, the Canary Islands, Japan and the USA.

The taxpayer-funded Science and Technology Facilities Council, which has its headquarters at Polaris House, North Star, spent a total of £8,487,998.49 on overseas travel, accommodation and subsistence, plus other expenses, including vehicle hire, mileage and parking tolls.

Figures released under the Freedom Of Information Act show £3m is spent annually on travel abroad from the overall STFC budget of £490,000.

You can read the full story here. 

Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.