A PUBLIC body aimed at boosting North West businesses spent nearly £8,000 a year flying staff to its offices in the United States and Canada.

The North West Development Agency (NWDA) is set to be scrapped by the new government.

And its five bases in California, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston and Toronto, are likely to follow suit, according to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Last month the Prime Minister highlighted the office in California as ‘wasteful’ spending by regional development agencies.

But bosses insisted the bases generated £30 of inward investment for every £1 spent on them.

A Freedom of Information Request by the Lancashire Telegraph has revealed 12 trips to the offices have been made by NWDA staff in the past three years, costing taxpayers a total of £23,485.

They were to give presentations, hold meetings with potential investors and attend conferences.

A NWDA spokesman said the North West was ‘leading the way’ for inward investment outside London and the South East, creating or safeguarding 259 jobs every week.