Council finances
If any Council has stopped you getting access to information - or if there’s are details relating to a contract you wish to see then you may be able to do something about that in the next few weeks. Under s14 & 15 Audit Commission Act 1998 any local government elector can inspect as part of the audit process the statement of accounts and auditors reports and may also inspect “all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers and receipts relating to them. On top of that you can make copies of those documents. The timescale when this can be done is very limited (2-3 weeks) and usually advertised by the Council in one of the small print “official notices” section of the paper. The easiest way of finding out is probably to email the finances dept though. This website has information on the time periods for many councils. Basically anything to do with council finances can be accessed and becomes completely public domain. No exemptions for commercial confidentiality (though there are some for personal information such as salaries and expenses). Unsurprisingly Council’s don’t go out of their way to publicise this facility and it is rarely used! Further details at http://www.yrtk.org/2006/checking-council-accounts/
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