[cma-l] Councils to publicise citizens' right to inspect town hall ledgers

[CMA-L]

New transparency rules will require councils to publicise to the press
and public the little-known rights to inspect councils' detailed
financial accounts, ledgers and records. This is designed to increase
scrutiny of councils' spending decisions by armchair auditors and
local investigative journalists, Local Government Secretary Eric
Pickles said today.

Every year councils are required to open their accounting records for
public inspection and challenge over a set time period. Yet the public
often do not realise that these citizens' rights include checking not
just the accounts but also "all books, deeds, contracts, bills,
vouchers and receipts related to them". These rights allow the public
to check any spending under the £500 online transparency threshold,
and avoid the need to submit Freedom of Information Act requests.

Revised rules controlling local authority accounting and audit
practice have been introduced reinforcing the importance of local
transparency, audit openness and accountability. These inspection
rights last for 20 working days, but the period differs for each local
authority, resulting in a low take-up to date. So in addition to the
existing requirement to notify the public of their rights through the
local press, councils must now also highlight the opportunity on their
website.

In a deregulatory move, changes will also reduce the financial
bureaucracy and burdens imposed on the smallest local authorities,
streamlining the audit process to make it easier for authorities to be
accountable to their community.

Until now, any public body with a budget over £1m had to provide
comprehensive accounting and audit details, which hit smaller
authorities such as parish councils disproportionately. These budget
thresholds have now risen to £6.5m, meaning that up to 100 smaller
local bodies will immediately benefit from less burdensome audit
requirements, reducing costs on reporting duties imposed by Whitehall.

Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said:

"An open Government is vital for good democracy and that's why
councils have to open their ledgers to the public - everyone has a
right to know how their taxes are spent.

"But it's not enough to just publish them quietly, armchair auditors
and local journalists need to know exactly where to find that
information and these new changes will make sure they are not just out
in the open but under the spotlight too.

"We have also cut the red tape for the smallest councils. For too long
they have been hostage to the most complex demands from Whitehall,
eating into time and resources they could have used to deliver for
their community, whilst maintaining robust safeguards on the spending
of public money."

Source: http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/newsroom/1886026

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