The mystery surrounding the Information Commissioner’s Office “choco-gate” scandal – triggered by revelations that an ICO corporate credit card had been used to buy £6,248.40 worth of Hotel Chocolat – has finally been revealed, after an admission that the lashings of luxury treats had been dished out to staff as Christmas presents.
Shortly after the story broke on news website Insider, the ICO announced that it would conduct an independent internal investigation to determine whether the transaction contravened spending policies and what remedial action might be required.
With that now concluded, the regulator has admitted that it was not in line with staff recognition or spending policies to purchase gifts for staff using public funds.
It added: “This was the only transaction made outside ICO policy and the only example of gifts having been purchased for staff. The investigation found that, for this specific transaction, our strict financial controls were not overseen effectively, enabling the transaction to be made despite it not being permitted by ICO policy.”
The money went on 254 identical gift sets – at £24.60 a pop – that were distributed to workers as Christmas presents, which, according to the ICO “was intended to acknowledge the hard work of these staff across a challenging year”.
Quite why only 254 out of a workforce of nearly 800 were chosen is not known but no doubt the rest were not too chuffed either.
In a statement, a spokesperson said: “We want to apologise for this incident. We have taken action in response to the investigation’s findings, implementing all recommendations in full, so that this should not happen again.”
The watchdog confirmed it has recently appointed a new director of finance who is expected to “to strengthen the oversight of our financial controls and staff training.”
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