WA Treasurer provides details on purchasing card usage across departments and agencies for the 2019-2020 financial year, but declines to provide a detailed breakdown of purchase categories due to resource constraints.

AnsweredQoN 113Legislative Council
Asked
25 May 2021
Portfolio
Treasurer

QuestionView source ↗

For each department and agency within the Minister's portfolio, could the Minister please provide information for the financial year 2019-2020, concerning the use of purchasing cards (including debit and credit cards) including: (a) how many cards were issued to staff; (b) what expenditure and transaction limits applied to the use of those cards; (c) the total dollar value of transactions made via those cards; (d) the total number of transactions made via those cards; and (e) a breakdown of the categories of goods and services purchased via those cards?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
15 June 2021
Responded by
Minister for Mental Health representing the Treasurer
Response time
6 days
(a – d)
Department of Treasury
(a) 42
(b) All cards had a transaction limit of $5,000, except for one staff member who had a transaction limit of $2,500. Expenditure limits varied, as per the table below:
Expenditure Limit
Number of Staff
$2,500
1
$5,000
10
$7,000
2
$10,000
19
$20,000
9
$40,000
1
(c) The total dollar value of the transactions made was $342,948.
(d) The total number of transactions made was 1,021.
Note: the 2019-20 information provided in the response reflects the Department of Treasury prior to the transition of the former Public Utilities Office and Energy Transformation Implementation Unit to Energy Policy WA on 5 September 2019.
Fire and Emergency Services Superannuation Board
(a) 1
(b) $2,000
(c) $96
(d) 1
Government Employees Superannuation Board
(a) 23
(b) Expenditure Limits; 4 x $2 000, 5 x $2 500, 6 x $10 000, 7 x $15 000, 1 x $20 000.
(c) $294,803
(d) 1262
Insurance Commission of Western Australia
(a) 14
(b) $5,000 – 9 cards, $10,000 – 4 cards, $25,000 – 1 card
(c) $127,521.57
(d) 530
Western Australian Treasury Corporation
(a) 12
(b) Card A $5,000, Card B $5,000, Card C $5,000, Card D $2,000, Card E $80,000, Card F $40,000, Card G $10,000, Card H $5,000, Card I $10,000, Card J $10,000, Card K $2,000, Card L $2,000
(c) $311,688
(d) 695
Economic Regulation Authority
(a) 13
(b) Expenditure Limits; $5,000 – 5 employees, $10,000 – 4 employees, $30,000 – 4 employees. Transaction limits have not been set, but staff, where possible, are to make purchases of no more than $5,000/transaction.
(c) $369,198.76 including GST.
(d) 647
Office of the Auditor General
(a) 23
(b)
Number of cards
Expenditure Limit
Transaction Limit
2
$1.00*
$1.00*
1
$2,000.00
$2,000.00
6
$5,000.00
$5,000.00
8
$10,000.00
$10,000.00
2
$15,000.00
$15,000.00
3
$20,000.00
$20,000.00
1
$50,000.00
$50,000.00
* Under our Purchasing Card Policy, staff who hold a corporate credit card and who go on extended annual or long service leave, or secondment, (exceeding 4 weeks) are required to return their card to the Manager of Finance. The Finance Officer will ensure a $1 transaction limit is imposed on these cards.
(c) $430,724.21 is the total value of the initial transactions. However, we were credited back $18,407.93 for refunds or cancelled purchases.
(d) 706
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(e) This detailed information would require considerable time, which would divert staff away from their normal duties and it is not considered to be a reasonable or appropriate use of government resources to provide this information.
If the member has a more specific query, I will endeavour to provide a reply.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more