To consider the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2014 and to approve the actions taken to ensure compliance.

33.1           Attention was drawn to the report of the Finance and Asset Management Group Manager, circulated at Pages No. 90-95, which set out the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2014.  Members were asked to consider the requirements and to approve the actions taken to ensure compliance.

33.2           Members were advised that the new requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2014 had been identified as a significant governance issue within the Council’s Annual Governance Statement.  The Local Government Transparency Code had been introduced in January 2011 and required local authorities to publish data in relation to: every transaction over £500, senior officer salaries; and Members’ Allowances.  The Council had complied with those requirements.  In May 2014, the Secretary of State had issued a replacement Transparency Code with significantly more requirements than the existing Code.  A table setting out the requirements of the Code was included at Paragraph 2.1 of the report.  The Council would be required to publish quarterly: information on each individual item of expenditure over £500; every transaction on a Government procurement card; and details of every invitation to tender and contracts in excess of £5,000.  In addition, it would be required to publish annually: all land and building assets; details of grants to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations; an organisation chart showing the top three tiers; numbers of staff and spending; parking accounts and controlled spaces, including details of any parking surplus; details of salaries over £50,000; the Council’s Constitution; the ratio between the highest paid taxable earnings for the given year and the median earning figure of the whole authority workforce; and details of fraud.  There was a one-off requirement to report any waste contracts in place. 

33.3           The first publication of the quarterly data requirements was required by the end of December 2014 and the first annual publication by the beginning of February 2015.  Information was currently being compiled for publication in line with the required timeline and would be uploaded onto a dedicated transparency page of the Council’s website, with the exception of some information, such as parking and procurement, which would be linked to existing pages.  The Finance and Asset Management Group Manager emphasised the huge amount of work which had been undertaken across various Council departments to ensure that all of the requirements were met and he indicated that it was essential that this information was kept up to date.

33.4           A Member raised concern about the extra pressure on staff to ensure that this data was published regularly and the Finance and Asset Management Group Manager agreed that this would be an extra responsibility for staff, although there would be less work required going forward after the initial publication.  A Member queried whether Parish and Town Councils would be expected to comply with the Code and the Finance and Asset Management Group Manager confirmed that the Code would apply to any Parish or Town Councils with gross annual income or expenditure exceeding £200,000.  Whilst she recognised the amount of work involved, the Member welcomed the changes as she felt that the public had a right to know how money was being spent.  Nevertheless, she doubted that this was something which Parish and Town Councils would be able to do quickly and easily and she questioned whether the Borough Council could provide a service to those who needed it, particularly given that the Borough Council was carrying out the audit for Tewkesbury Town Council.  The Finance and Asset Management Group Manager indicated that he was happy to advise on the regulations but Parish and Town Councils would need to gather their own information for publication.  In terms of carrying out more internal audit work on behalf of Parish and Town Councils, this was very much a question of whether the necessary resources were available within the Internal Audit team. 

33.5           The Policy and Performance Group Manager went on to explain that it was intended to include a small number of days within the Audit Plan 2015/16 to ensure that the Council continued to comply with the Code and it was subsequently

RESOLVED          That the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2014 be NOTED and the actions taken to ensure compliance be APPROVED as set out in Paragraph 3 of the report.