Olympic authority reveals details of £56,000 expenses

Memory sticks, Christmas cards and cups of coffee were among the items claimed on expenses by senior figures at the Olympic Delivery Authority last year.

In all, ODA board members and directors, including director of design and regeneration Alison Nimmo, put more than £56,000 on expenses, including lunches, taxis and hotels.

Nimmo, who earned £303,000 in the year to March 2010, claimed just £1,526, according to figures released by the ODA today, with the bulk of her claim being made up of membership fees to the RICS and the Royal Town Planning Institute.

The biggest claimant was the ODA’s director of construction Howard Shiplee whose £15,055.65 was more than a quarter of the total amount claimed by the ODA board.

Among the items claimed for by Shiplee, who was paid £377,000 last year including a £57,000 bonus, were £5 for newspapers and £12.49 for Christmas cards. He spent more than £10,000 on accomodation during the period.

ODA chief executive David Higgins, who earned £438,000 last year, claimed £23.10 for coffee at Costa on two separate occasions.

And ODA chairman John Armitt, who works 3.5 days a week for the body earning £250,000, spent £116.25 on memory sticks and also claimed £40 for flowers for a colleague on maternity leave.

He also shelled out £439.99 for a return flight to Belfast to visit a regional business conference.

Board member David Taylor had the highest public transport bill with £6,749.50.

In its latest annual report, the ODA revealed that it had spent £3.5 billion building the 2012 Games in the period up to March. It said the cost of building work, which is now 55% complete, was £822 million below budget because of cost savings, unused contigency funds as well as deferred spend because of schedule changes.