1 week Ago By The Telegraph
Home Office staff have been sent on Swedish dog massage courses at the taxpayers’ expense, The Telegraph has found. Border force officials were sent on dog massage training courses costing £1,000 in September last year, official records show. Other expenditure on dogs last year included £574.
70 on “dog enrichment”, including puzzles and sand for play pits in April and a further £706.81 on items including a paddling pool and sandpit lids in May. It comes as the Government last month told all civil service departments to limit spending and cut administrative costs by 15 per cent over the next five years, with Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, ordering the civil service to save £2 billion a year.
The dog massage courses, run by a UK-based canine massage therapy centre, are held in Worcestershire, Herefordshire or online, and cost between £138 and £192 per person. In total, the civil service spent £966 on the training. The courses teach how to give dogs “a full body 40-minute Swedish massage” to “help loosen stiff, sore, tight muscles” which “improve comfort levels and their sense of wellbeing”.
They also teach “how to locate bony landmarks” on the dog, “how to locate your dog’s main muscle groups”, and how to use “a strong yet gentle technique to improve mobility in your dog’s joints and muscles.” The website says: “By the end of this 1 Day Workshop, you will be able to give your dog a Full Body 40 Minute Swedish Massage to help loosen stiff, sore, tight muscles, improve their comfort levels and improve their sense of wellbeing.” Other spending on the Home Office dogs included £520 on bed mattresses in August, £600 on six new raised stainless steel garden dog beds in April and over £1,000 on air conditioning units for the dogs last August.
The Home Office argued that the dog massages were designed to help treat the animal’s physical ailments, and that paddling pools allow the dogs to cool off after demanding sessions of searches on hot days. They said those criticising the expenditure were “barking up the wrong tree”. But Tory MPs were quick to condemn the spending.
Greg Smith , the Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, said: “Civil servants are there to deliver services and good government for people in this country. I am utterly lost at what a Swedish dog massage course could possibly do to help that mission. Perhaps I am missing something, but I doubt it.
” It comes as Labour wages a war on waste in Whitehall, cutting civil service numbers and reining in questionable departmental spending. Last month, Pat McFadden , the Cabinet Office minister, announced a crackdown on Whitehall’s use of government-issued credit cards after mandarins were caught spending on luxury away days and Fortnum & Mason goods. Mr McFadden responded by launching an urgent review into the use of the cards amid accusations that some of the spending breached official guidance.
In April, the Cabinet Office also introduced a ban on branded merchandise in the civil service such as mugs and jumpers in order to help cut costs. The Cabinet Office also imposed a ban on mandarins organising “away days” for officials at pricey locations when they could use government buildings instead. Civil service dogs, which are used to detect drugs and other contraband items at the UK border, have been used by the Government since 1978, and there are currently around 64 in service across the UK’s major ports and airports.
A government spokesman said: “Our Border Force dogs do an outstanding job every day, helping to detect billions of pounds worth of drugs being smuggled into our country, and discovering the evidence that puts dangerous organised criminals behind bars. “We make no apologies whatsoever for keeping our dogs well looked after so they are always ready to perform that essential work when called upon, and anyone who wants to criticise that spending is barking up the wrong tree.”.
