Oh such shocking news - The Telegraph finally pick up on the Union Modernisation Fund and the Union Learning Fund

The Telegraph report the simply shocking news that (my emphasis):

'Unite, and the two unions that formed it, received the public money under two little-known funds to improve management and training for its members.

It has been the biggest beneficiary of one of the schemes, the Union Modernisation Fund, and received a sixth of all the money given out under the Union Learning Fund.
The figures have led to fresh claims that Britain’s biggest union has taken over the Labour Party after donating almost £30million over the past decade and employing a key adviser to Gordon Brown as its political director.

...

Francis Maude, the Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, said: “This really looks like money laundering - taxpayers' money is being funnelled into Unite then put straight back into Labour's coffers.

“It's a real racket, with taxpayers' money being round-tripped into Gordon Brown's re-election fund. We must have much greater transparency on what unions are receiving from the Labour Government in return for their backhanders.”

...

Since 1998, Unite, Amicus and the TGWU have received £17,396,498 under the Union Learning Fund, 17 per cent of the total money handed out by the Government.

...

details of where the money goes are not published while annual evaluation reports ceased several years ago.

An analysis commissioned by the Government but carried out by York Consulting in 2006 found there was no framework “against which the employment/economic impact can be measured” and that “unions do not collate monitoring data in a form which is consistent and which is accurate and reliable”.

It stated: “Although the evaluation has tried to generate ‘evidence’ from unions of the impact of the ULF particularly on their strategic development, it is difficult to substantiate the majority of claims from unions against other sources.

“Unions, are to a large extent, dependent upon external funding. ULF has been a major part of that funding. Therefore, statement demonstrating a positive impact, could typically be expected. In addition, employers can only offer a first hand estimate of the value and impact of ULF on their workforce. There has been no attempt currently to develop quantifiable impact analysis indicators.”

Unite has been given £382,469 under the Union Modernisation Fund since 2006. This is higher than the amount received by any other union including Unison (£345,832), which represents public sector workers; Usdaw (£291,075), the shop workers’ body; and the GMB (£257,476).

The Union Modernisation Fund is administered by Lord Mandelson’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. In total, it has given out more than £7m since it was set up in 2006.'

Is anyone shocked at this news?