CLOSE to £3,000 was spent last on sending Wirral Council officers overseas as part of pension fund conferences and investor meetings.

Rome, Madrid, Paris and Vienna were all destinations travelled to by town hall employees working in its Merseyside Pensions Fund department.

Unearthed by prolific Wirral blogger John Brace, the figures reveal £2,943 was spent on 10 trips between January and November last year.

Wirral is the administering authority for the £6.5bn Merseyside Pensions Fund, with a spokesman today telling the Globe the figure represents “legitimate costs”.

Other destinations included Frankfurt, Brussels, Dublin, Montreux and Miami – although no expenses were paid for the American destination.

The most expensive trip was to Paris in June last year when one council officer attended an investment conference with more than 20 company presentations.

The trip was said to “provide better understanding of individual companies to increase industry knowledge”.

The least expensive claim was a two-day trip to Vienna in November for the IPE conference and annual awards.

A number of the events were subsidised by the organisers who pay for or contribute towards and/or accommodation and/or attendance costs.

A spokesman for the Merseyside Pension Fund said: “Merseyside Pension Fund is a £6.5billion global concern, and in this context, we are satisfied that £2,943 represents legitimate costs for business travel in context of the monitoring of our global investments.

“Any travel costs are reported to, and scrutinised by members.

“When officers of the fund are invited to speak at conferences, as we are from time to time, travel and accommodation expenses are paid by organisers, which helps to defray costs.”