Public exercise of inspection and objection rights under Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014

The request was successful.

Dear West Lancashire District Council,

The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 provides members of the public with rights to inspect, within an annual inspection window, the council’s accounts and related documents. It also provides local electors with the right to object to an item of the accounts. Prior to the 2014 Act these same rights were enshrined in the Audit Commission Act 1998.

As a regular user of these rights, in my capacity as a local journalist, local elector, member of accountability campaigns and academic researcher I am interested in understanding the frequency and the way in which these rights are being used across the country.

The MHCLG have recently launched an independent inquiry into the quality of local authority audit (the Redmond Review). One of the questions in the recent call for views asks whether the “the inspection and objection regime allow local residents to hold their council to account in an effective manner?” whilst also acknowledging that data is not currently gathered at a national level on the citizen uses of these rights. I feel there is therefore a strong public interest in the timely disclosure of the information in this request.

Please provide the following information:

A. For all the objections you received between 2009 and 2019 (i.e. relating to financial years 2008/9 to 2018/19 inclusive) please provide the following information in an excel spreadsheet. Please use the list below as column headers and compile the data for each objection in a separate row.

1. Objection reference no.
2. Financial year the objection relates to
3. Subject/summary of the objection
4. Date objection was received
5. Did objector ask the auditor make a referral to the High Court?
6. Did objector ask the auditor to issue a Public Interest Report?
7. Was the objection accepted as valid?
8. If not, why?
9. Was a public interest report issued?
10. Was a referral made to the High Court?
11. If so, what was the High Court’s decision?
12. Were any other recommendations made or actions taken by the auditor under the powers set out in Section 24 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act?
13. Date objector was sent a final decision notice
14. How much was the council charged by the auditor to carry out work in relation to the objection?

B. For all the inspection requests you received between 2009 and 2019 (i.e. relating to financial years from 2008/9 to 2018/19 inclusive), please provide the following information in an excel spreadsheet. Please use the list below as column headers and compile the data for each inspection request in a separate row.

1. Inspection reference number
2. Financial year inspection request refers to
3. Date request for information received
4. Was the request accepted as valid?
5. If not, why?
6. Was request transferred to FOI?
7. If transferred to FOI, what was the justification for doing so?
8. Subject/summary of request as recorded
9. Which department(s) dealt with the information request?
10. Date the response and documents requested were sent to requester

Yours faithfully,

Megan I Waugh

Freedom Of Information, West Lancashire Borough Council

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request is a valid request for information under the terms of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 it will be answered promptly and within 20 working
days.

 

West Lancashire Borough Council as the Data Controller take the security
of your personal data seriously.  We will only use the personal
information you give us for the purposes of providing an answer to your
freedom of information request.  For further information
www.westlancashire.gov.uk

 

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Spicer, Rebecca, West Lancashire Borough Council

Dear Ms Waugh,

Thank you for your enquiry of 25^th September 2019  in which you
requested  information concerning the public exercise of inspection and
objection rights under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

In line with our data retention policy we only maintain data in relation
to your query for 6 years.  The data retained shows that we have not
received any objections or inspection requests as referred to in your
enquiry. 

The supply of information in response to a freedom of information request 
does not confer an automatic right to re-use the information.  Under UK 
copyright law you can use any information supplied for the purposes of 
private study and non-commercial research without requiring permission. 
Similarly, information supplied can also be re-used for the purposes of 
news reporting.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the 
right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be 
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to
your  original letter and should be addressed to: Mr Mike Kostrzewski at
West  Lancashire Borough Council, 52 Derby Street, Ormskirk, Lancashire
L39  2DF.  Please remember to quote the reference number above in any
future  communications.  If you are not content with the outcome of an
internal  review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information 
Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted  at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane,  Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Kind regards,

 

Rebecca Spicer

Insurance and Risk Management Officer

West Lancashire Borough Council

 

_____________________________

 

Tel: 01695 585098

West Lancashire Borough Council

52 Derby Street, Ormskirk, L39 2DF
______________________________

 

[1]www.westlancs.gov.uk

 

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Notice: How we handle your data

 

West Lancashire Borough Council takes your privacy very seriously and will
keep your personal data secure at all times. We will only use your
personal data for the purpose for which it was provided and ensure that it
is destroyed when no longer required. For further information about your
privacy, please see our [2]website. If you would like to discuss your
privacy in more detail, you can contact the Officer whose details are
above this notice.

 

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