Resident quizzes Peterborough council over use of procurement cards where spending included £132,000 at Amazon

Resident Tom Holland presented a meeting of Peterborough City Council with a 16 item list, which he said showed spending that included £900 on a fish and chip meal, £31,000 at Tesco, and £245 with a reptile food supplier, and sought reassurances the spending was necessary.

Under an item allowing questions from the public, Mr Holland said: “Given the limited information disclosed through responses to a Freedom of Information request will the cabinet member and Section 151 officer undertake to provide copies of the receipts within 30 days for the transactions mentioned?

"This is so the public can be satisfied that these expenditures were proper and represented value for money and necessary for council business.”

Mr Holland also told the meeting: “Council records showed that 64 procurement credit cards were issued to council officers during 2023 and 2024 with a total expenditure of £913,607.

"And during 2004/5 up to Jan 31, 2026 there were 72 procurement cards issued to officers with a total expenditure of £633,438.

He asked: “Given the relatively small number of card holders, can the council provide assurances that all procurement credit card expenditures during the ‘23, ‘24, ‘25 financial years was necessary, represented value for money and complied with the council’s procurement and financial government requirement?”

Mr Holland read out a list of P-card spending that he said was made during the 2024/2025 year.

Cllr Mohammed Jamil, the council’s cabinet member for finance and corporate governance, told the meeting: “Officers will have to look them up but I will endeavour to get a response to Mr Holland.”

He said that all spending applications required a budget holder and head of finance approval.

Cllr Jamil said: “Each individual card has an agreed credit card limit, a single transaction limit and spend category restrictions which cannot be amended without approval from the head of finance.

"All transaction data is exported to our payment system.

“Budget holders are able to view spend within their areas and view transactions to ensure no payments are unexpected or unapproved.

He added: “There is a P-card guidance policy which is a procurement card guidance policy in place which card holders review as part of their application process and must be adhered to.”

Cllr Jamil said that P-cards were ‘a speedy option for purchases related to grants in areas such as rough sleeping and social workers.’

He said: "P-cards maybe used by social workers for emergency situations where procurement is not a viable option.

"They can be used in situations where formal procurement would be neither cost effective or appropriate.”

"The majority of transactions would be well below the threshold at which procurement rules indicate anything other than one quotation being required.”