£200,000 spent on freebies

Taxpayers paid more than £200,000 for freebie gifts including pens, pom poms and sticks of rock to promote councils and quangos in the West Midlands, new figures released today reveal.

Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands spent £5,791 on umbrellas alone, buying 325 of them over three years to give out on property site visits.

Other items bought by councils in the region include ice scrapers, bubble blowers and spaghetti measurers. And Dudley Council spent almost £640 on 820 sticks of pink mint rock with Halesowen By The Sea running through the middle.

The revelations come as many councils look to shed jobs and cut services.

Figures released through the Freedom of Information Act reveal AWM spent £21,465 on items. The agency has now stopped ordering items to give away.

Councils and quangos revealed they spent £210,894 - but this figure does not include Wolverhampton and Staffordshire councils which refused to respond.

Dudley Council spent £735 on 1,500 spaghetti measurers, £1,050 on 1,500 fridge thermometers and £638 on the rock. Birmingham City Council paid £77,397 over three years for items including bags, pom-poms and packets of seeds.

Cannock Chase District Council spent £8,755, including mobile phone wipes.

Sandwell Council spent more than £16,000 on re-usable shopping bags. There was also £6,403 spent on items including maginifiers, pens and bubble blowers.

South Staffordshire Council spent £650 on beer mats and Walsall Council gave away key fobs and pom poms. It claims much of the money came externally.

Transport authority Centro spent £12,360.

By Daniel Wainwright