Remembering by how badly the news went down that Hazel Blears had been given Spanish lessons at the taxpayers’ expense, Kevin Brennan, the Innovation and Skills minister, refused on 17th June to name the minister whose attempts to learn Italian have so far cost the taxpayer £1,343 .

“Identifying ministers who undertake training would discourage participation in future training sessions, acting as a disincentive for ministers to undertake formal professional development,” Brennan said in a Commons written reply to Grant Shapps, the shadow housing minister.

Other courses for this particular minister on Cabinet Committees and about our EU enemies incurred no direct cost to the department, but were taken at the National School of Government which is also taxpayer-funded. Whichever way you slice it that’s still you’n’me, folks. He added that the unidentified minister has been receiving the lessons on a weekly basis since October 2008.

A media training course involved two sessions in April 2008. The overall cost for the two sessions was £1,276. The course “looked at developing skills to communicate the Minister’s remit in a particular area.”

It makes the £183 that Blears claimed as communities secretary for her Spanish lessons, which she said she required before an international conference, look pretty small beer. One can only say to the minister concerned: Se non hai ancora imperato la lingua, lascia perdere!

Source: Telegraph