Bureaucrat’s much liked websites “Belly Dancing & Medieval Role play”

Civil servants are using Whitehall computers to make thousands of visits to websites about belly dancing, medieval role play, and cricket, according to new figures.

Bureaucrats are also spending the day with visits to websites likeSexymp.co.uk, which rates the good looks of their political masters, and the Doctor Who fan page.

Amid the stranger of the 1,000 first sites visited by the bureaucrats at the Department for Transport –exposed by a Freedom of Information request – is bearsfaction.org.uk, a page dedicated to a live medieval role playing game.

The welcome page describes visitors: "know to enter this place you are under Bears generosity – conduct yourself as a Bear would and you will locate your questions answered, friendship willingly given and received.

"Let all who see the Bear recognize we are a proud people, we are a respectable people and we are a kind people. Our land is held jointly by the grace, might and wisdom of Anu, combined behind our three Queens."

A Whitehall source recommended that a DFT civil servant may be one of the administrators of the curious group.

In the five months to the end of May there were also 3,170 visits to smallworldbellydance.com, the home page of a company in south London that presents private belly dance tuition.

In a potential sign of the aggravation felt by civil servants, there were also in excess of 121,000 visits to a government website looking for recommendations on how to cut red tape. More everyday internet destinations include Facebook and Wikipedia – with the BBC website approaching top of the list with more than 7.4 million hits.

Gambling website also Bet365 marked on the list, as did numerous cricket sites.

But in proof of the discriminating taste of Britain's Bureaucrats,Telegraph.co.uk was the much visited newspaper website.

Ranked 13 on the overall list, The Telegraph edged out the Daily Mail (31), The Independent (57), The Guardian (144), and The Sun (199).

Matthew Sinclair, Director of the Tax-Payers’ Alliance which got the figures, said: “It seems like several officers at the Department for Transport are passing moist of their time surfing websites that obviously have nothing to do with their jobs.

"Even as many staff duties very hard, there have been enough subjective reports of time wasters within the Civil Service that it is imperative taxpayers are able to scrutinize how time they are paying for is spent. Other Departments need to follow suit and publish this information, there is no practical barrier to proper transparency.”