Public exercise of inspection and objection rights under Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014
Dear Harrogate Borough 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
Harrogate Borough Council confirm that your email has been received at
[Harrogate Borough Council request email]. Your request will now be considered under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (if the subject matter relates to environmental
information), we may be in further contact with you in connection with
your request. However, if it is clear what information you are requesting
disclosure of then you should expect a full response within the next 20
working days, if exemptions are engaged that will be explained to you in
the response.
Harrogate Borough Council
Freedom of Information
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Dear Ms Waugh,
Thank you for your email/fax/letter received by the Council on 25th September 2019 requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ('FOIA') relating to "the council's accounts and related documents".
In response, please find below the information from Harrogate Borough Council:
The Council can confirm that it has not received any objections or inspections.
If you are not satisfied with the way your request has been handled, please contact -
Freedom of Information Officer, PO Box 787, Harrogate, HG1 9RW
or email [Harrogate Borough Council request email]
The Council has an internal review procedure. If your complaint is about the decision which has been made you will usually be entitled to have your case reviewed by a senior officer from a department which has not been involved in the decision previously. Your request for internal review must be received by the Council within 40 working days from the date that the response to your initial request is issued.
If, after their decision, you are still not happy, you may appeal to-
The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
website: https://ico.org.uk/
For the avoidance of doubt the provision of council (and other) officer names and contact details under FOI or EIR does not give consent to receive direct marketing via any media and expressly does not constitute a 'soft opt-in' under PECR.
Yours sincerely,
The FOI Team
Harrogate Borough Council
P.O. Box 787
Harrogate
HG1 9RW
Tel: 01423 500600
Web: www.harrogate.gov.uk
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