Little things that make up big numbers

The Cabinet Office spent £26,000 on a bill for training staff to have "difficult conversations", which also spent £55,000 on "accommodation improvements" to the prime minister's offices. It also spent £161,244 on the administration of the honours system. The Equality and Human Rights Commission spent £8301.38 with the company YesGifts Ltd to produce branded pens, pencils, wallets and rulers for a children's art competition prize. The Home Office paid £37,240.90 to Dame Nuala O'Loan to write a report into the UK Border Agency. BAE Systems received £5,016,481.18 from the Ministry of Defence, which also paid £595,000 to British schools in Brussels, Paris, and Delhi. The MoD paid £1.2m in fees to the Treasury Solicitor, the government's lawyers, and £37,000 to Knotty Ash Woodworking. UK Trade and Industry, the government agency that promotes overseas trade, gave £1,000 to Zelly Jewellery Ltd to attend a fashion fair in Paris; £1,000 to Yarwood Leather Ltd to attend an aircraft interiors Expo in Hamburg; £1,500 to Westfield Sportscars to help develop an export business, and £500 to Belton Cheese, purveyors of traditional farmhouse cheeses. Carlson Wagonlit Travel received £25.1m from eight government departments The TUC received £5.2m, largely from the Department for Business, Innovation and Science. A payment of £31,300 was made by the MoD to a company called Bladerunner Ltd which appeals to any organisation "seeking to improve its health and wellness programmes". The offices of Britain's ex-prime ministers received £95,161. The Equality and Human Rights Commission spent £750 on the nightclub Tiger Tiger for a meeting, and £1,586.25 to Westminster Explained to provide training sessions on the principles of equality legislation as part of the induction process for new staff — despite the fact that the EHRC is the national authority on the laws. The Ministry of Justice spent £1.17m on providing in-cell television for inmates who have earned the privilege. The Department for Communities and Local Government spent £8,831.46 at the Institute of Directors in March on sandwiches, biscuits, flip charts and hire of equipment. The Department for Communities and Local Government paid out £834.24 in March for flying a US pollster from Gallup over to the UK. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills paid £1.3m in compensation to UK fishermen for losses incurred after the 1976 cod wars.