Objections to the financial accounts
Dear Sheffield City Council,
The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 provides local electors with the right to object to an item of their local authority's financial accounts. In relation to all the objections received between 2015 and 2020 (including objections to the 2014/15 accounts) please provide the following information in Excel spreadsheet format.
Please use the list below as column headers and compile the data for each objection in a separate row.
1. Objection reference no.
2. Date the objection was received
3. Financial year the objection relates to
4. Subject of the objection
5. Auditor who dealt with the objection (company name)
6. Did the objector ask for a referral to the High Court or a Public Interest Report, or both?
7. Was the objection accepted as valid?
8. If not, why?
9. Has the auditor provided a final response to the objection?
10. If yes, please indicate the date of the final response.
11. Was a public interest report issued?
12. Was a referral made to the High Court?
13. If so, what was the High Court’s decision?
14. 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?
15. How much was the council charged by the auditor to carry out work in relation to the objection?
Kind regards,
Ludovica Rogers
Dear Ludovica Rogers,
Thank you for your request for information relating to objections to the
financial accounts received between 2015 and 2020 which we received on
16/12/2020.
This has been logged as a Freedom of Information Request and will be dealt
with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The reference number for
your request can be found above.
Please be aware that Sheffield City Council’s response to the global
COVID-19 pandemic has led to a reduction in resources across the Council,
meaning that we are currently dealing with a backlog of requests.
We will aim to respond to your request within 20 working days, by
18/01/2021, but we kindly ask for your patience as we anticipate that
there may be a delay in some cases. Please do not hesitate to contact us
at the email address below if you have any queries.
Yours sincerely,
Sheffield City Council
PO Box 1283
Sheffield, S1 1UJ
Email: [1][Sheffield City Council request email]
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Dear Ludovica Rogers,
Thank you for your request for information relating to objections to the
financial accounts received between 2015 and 2020 which we received on
16/12/2020.
Please find Sheffield City Council’s response to your request set out
below:
1. Objection reference no.
N/A
2. Date the objection was received
23 July 2017 (PFI schemes) and 24 July 2017 (Lender Option Borrower Option
loans – known as LOBOs)
3. Financial year the objection relates to
2016/17 (both)
4. Subject of the objection
(i) that the Council entering into LOBO loans was contrary to law
(ii) In relation to the PFI schemes the Council holds:
The decision to enter these PFI contracts was irrational and based on
conflicted, for profit advice by audit consultants which was not in the
public interest. ■ The local authority has not demonstrated how the seven
contracts represent value for money in terms of non-performance/delivery
and exiting the contract. ■ The local authority did not have sufficiently
robust governance arrangements during the construction phase of the 6
projects nor are they in place now to ensure that the buildings are safe.
We note that this element does not relate to the Highways PFI. ■ The local
authority is making monthly unitary payments without robust governance
arrangements based on self-declared availability and performance reports
of the PFI contractors, which is irrational conduct.
5. Auditor who dealt with the objection (company name)
KPMG
6. Did the objector ask for a referral to the High Court or a Public
Interest Report, or both?
Both
7. Was the objection accepted as valid?
Yes
8. If not, why?
N/A
9. Has the auditor provided a final response to the objection?
Yes
10. If yes, please indicate the date of the final response.
22 May 2018 and 8 Oct 2019
11. Was a public interest report issued?
No
12. Was a referral made to the High Court?
No
13. If so, what was the High Court’s decision?
N/A
14. 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?
None
15. How much was the council charged by the auditor to carry out work in
relation to the objection?
£25,143 (PFI obj excl VAT); LOBO £7,660.00 (excluding VAT).
If you have any queries about this response, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
The information provided in this response is available for re-use under
the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0. The terms of the OGL can be
found [1]here. When re-using the information, Sheffield City Council
requires you to include the following attribution statement: “Contains
public sector information obtained from Sheffield City Council and
licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your
request, you are entitled to have this reviewed. You can ask for an
internal review by either writing to the above address or by emailing
[2][Sheffield City Council request email]. Internal review requests should be submitted
within 40 working days from the date of this response.
If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your internal review, you
can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office. Please see
[3]www.ico.org.uk for further details.
Kind Regards,
Sheffield City Council
PO Box 1283
Sheffield, S1 1UJ
Email: [4][Sheffield City Council request email]
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