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The previous Labour government has been accused of "excess" spending as the most detailed breakdown of government spending so far was published.
The disclosures came as the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) published a list of all spending on its running costs over £500 in a bid to promote greater transparency over how public money is being spent.
The 1,900 items of expenditure disclosed by the central CLG department for 2009-10 came to £314m.
Marketing, advertising, promotion and events costs reached £16m, while £635,000 went on taxis and chauffeur driven cars, and nearly £310,000 on catering and food.
The department's quangos accounted for another £337m.
Figures revealed that the Government Offices for the Regions ran up bills of more than £100,000 on market research and polling last year.
It also spent over £1,600 on massages for staff and on a staff away-day to Blackpool pleasure beach.
Communities secretary Eric Pickles said the figures had shown Labour ministers "went on a spending spree" with taxpayers' money.
He called for members of the public to act as "armchair auditors" and sift through the 1,900 items of expenditure to find more examples.
Local government minister Bob Neill said: "It seems quite literally the Government Offices of the Regions were taking the taxpayer for ride.
"They were living it up at the taxpayers expense whilst thousands of households were struggling to make ends meet. It's unforgivable that a culture of excess was allowed to flourish for so long."
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