Pedicures, golf lessons and overseas trips: The £440m bill for council fatcat credit cards funded by taxpayers Councils uncovered spending cash on chauffer-driven cars and luxury trips Others found buying manicures with public cash MP Eric Pickles slams spending but defends decision to scrap watchdog Britain's council bosses are lavishing millions in taxpayers' cash on chauffeur-driven cars and jet-setting trips, an investigation has found. The astonishing spending includes five-star jaunts across the globe, the use of luxury chauffeured Bentleys, Jaguars and BMWs, and even private golf lessons for council staff. One local authority used their taxpayer-funded charge cards to buy pedicures. Austerity? Local authorities have been exposed spending taxpayer cash on luxury trips around the world for staff The spending was uncovered by Channel 4's Dispatches 'How Councils Waste Your Money' and comes despite cash-strapped local authorities imposing deep cuts to social care and services. The investigation found: More than £30million spent ferrying around town hall top brass in chauffeured cars in five years. Almost £4million spent on trips abroad to countries including Brazil, Australia and Jamaica. One council spent £23,000 employing a twinning ambassador to a picturesque French town. Councillors using payment cards on luxury hotels and lavish meals at celebrity restaurants. Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles slammed the high spending at a time of deepening austerity. He said: 'I can pretty much tell you now that money spent on golf lessons by local authorities, or pedicures, is not wisely spent.' Not money well-spent: Eric Pickles MP has slammed spending on frivolous trips and luxury goods The investigation found almost 200 councils currently own or lease chauffeur cars to ferry councillors and staff, with the bill for chauffeuring top brass hitting £30million over five years. It's the equivalent of the yearly salary of more than 1,300 new teachers, or 1,500 trainee social workers Information, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed 246 chauffeur-driven cars in use across the UK's councils, including 52 Jaguars, 24 BMWs, 17 Mercedes, three Bentleys and a Rolls Royce. The biggest spender was Glasgow City Council, which forked out £983,000 on chauffeuring around its council chiefs and executives between 2007/08 and 2011/12. They currently use three £50,000 luxury Volkswagen Phateon saloons. Belfast City Council, which runs a plush BMW 7-series, spent £704,000, and Birmingham City Council, which runs three different Jaguar cars for its town hall chiefs, spent £663,000. The deprived area of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council racked up a £644,000 bill on chauffeur-driven cars, and runs a BMW 7 series, a BMW 5 series and a Volvo S80. While posh Kensington and Chelsea Council, in London, spent £602,000 on chauffeur-driven cars, which include a Bentley Continental and a Jaguar Sovereign. The investigation comes as town halls face fewer controls than ever before on how cash is spent. Councils in Britain are responsible for £114billion of taxpayers' money - more than the entire NHS budget, and twice the defence budget. But the Government has axed the Audit Commission, the independent body originally set up to ensure public money is spent wisely by local authorities. Instead, councils will be allowed to appoint their own auditors and police themselves. Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: 'We're worried that if local authorities appoint their own auditor that we'll no longer have a real independent audit. Spendthrift: One council was found to be using credit cards to pay for manicures and pedicures, while another rewarded a member of staff with golf lessons 'I think we will lose confidence that we're getting value for money for what we put in as council taxpayers.' Local government expert Professor Tony Travers, from the London School of Economics, warned the loss of the independent scrutiny body could lead to council waste. He said: 'We will see cases of misappropriation of money, and inappropriate behaviour.' The investigation also revealed councils lavished £3.7million on globe-trotting jaunts to a total of 90 different countries between 2007/08 and 2011/12. The biggest spender was Birmingham City Council which spent £319,000 over five years visiting a total of 43 countries including China, Bahrain, Jamaica, Brazil, and India. Belfast City Council spent £181,000 visiting countries including Israel, Italy, and the USA. While Midlands-based Coventry City Council spent £169,000 jetting to 21 countries including Australia, China, Japan, Spain, South Africa, and Sweden. The lavish spending includes money for twinning - where local authorities forge a relationship with a town or area abroad in the hope of boosting business and tourism. Kensington and Chelsea Council, in London, spent £602,000 on chauffeur-driven cars, which include a Bentley Continental The investigation found coal-mining town Wigan spends around £25,000 each year to twin with Angers, a medieval town in the picturesque Loire Valley region of western France. It includes a £23,000 salary for an 'Ambassador' to Wigan Councils also spent almost half a billion pounds on taxpayer-funded charge cards, which were used to buy golf lessons for staff members, football tickets, and pedicures. The charge cards, sometimes known as 'purchase cards' or 'P-cards' aim to increase efficiency and reduce costs of purchasing equipment for council offices and schools. But critics say they lack controls, and have led to extravagant spending. Investigators found Fenland District Council, in Cambridgeshire, spent £205 on golf lessons as a gift. York City Council spent £180 on pedicures and manicures which they said was for disadvantaged young people in a scheme focussing on building self-esteem. I can pretty much tell you now that money spent on golf lessons by local authorities, or pedicures, is not wisely spent. MP Eric Pickles In the most shocking example, Lord Hanningfield, the disgraced former leader of Essex County Council, spent almost £300,000 on hospitality and travel with his council purchase card in five years. It included £136,000 on overseas trips to 24 countries, including £7,700 on a three-day conference to the Bahamas, and £2,000 to say at the five-star Taj Ma Hotel in India. The peer, who was jailed July 2011 for nine months after being found guilty of six charges of false accounting, but was released on an electric tag after serving just nine weeks, has defended the claims, saying his work helped save the council millions. Despite evidence of lavish spending, Mr Pickles defended the decision to axe the independent Audit Commission watchdog, saying it had started to 'lose its way'. Glasgow City Council - £983k Belfast City Council - £704k Birmingham City Council £663k Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council - £644k Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council - £602k Essex County Council - £602k Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council - £518k Croydon London Borough Council - £506k Harrow London Borough Council - £484k Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council - £446k Includes drivers He said: 'If Boots the chemist can appoint their own auditors, then I'm quite sure local authorities should be able to do it, provided they do not have the same auditor all the time. I think if you look around local government generally people have accepted this is what needs to be done. Mr Pickles said increased openness in publishing council spending data would allow the public to keep a close eye on their councils, and ensure money is properly spent. He added: 'We've also been increasing the amount of transparency. Everything [spent] over £500 has not got to be produced and appear online. I'm hoping local authorities will go down to £250. 'Eventually I'm hoping they will publish everything they spend online. 'It shouldn't just be the district auditors taking an interest. The good running of local government should be a public priority. And he encouraged the public to scrutinise their own local councils. He said: 'I suspect this programme might well be a catalyst and we will see 'mini-me' versions of this up and down the land. 'Ultimately you've got to trust the public. Ultimately it's got to be what the public find acceptable.' Dispatches 'How Councils Waste Your Money' will be shown on Channel 4 tommorrow at 8pm.