Public exercise of inspection and objection rights under Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014
Dear Havering 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
Dear Ms Waugh
Acknowledgement of Information Request – Our Reference: AIR18618A
I acknowledge receipt of your request for information received on 26^th
September 2019. Your email is being considered and you will receive a
response to your request as soon as possible.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 allow authorities 20 working days, following date of
receipt, in which to respond to requests. You may be aware the
legislation defines a number of exemptions which may prevent release of
the information you have requested. If any of the exemption categories
apply then the information will not be released. In these cases, we will
inform you of any exemptions we have applied together with our reasons for
withholding the information and your rights of appeal.
Please bear in mind the legislation allows access to information 'held' by
the Council and not for the creation of new information or opinion.
Therefore, we may only be able to supply documents or data that contain
the information we hold in response to your request.
There may be a fee payable for the supply of information. This will be
calculated and you will be informed if a charge applies. In this event,
the fee must be paid before the information is released.
If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me
quoting our reference above.
Further information regarding Access to Information is also available
from:
Office of the Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
[1]www.ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Access to Information
London Borough of Havering
Town Hall, Main Road, Romford, RM1 3BD
t 01708 432119
e [2][Havering Borough Council request email]
w [3]www.havering.gov.uk
text relay 18001 01708 432119
[4]CSPT
Sign up for [5]email updates for local news and information
This document is strictly confidential and is intended only for use by the
addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying,
distribution or other action taken in reliance of the information
contained in this e-mail is strictly prohibited. Any views expressed by
the sender of this message are not necessarily those of the London Borough
of Havering. If you have received this transmission in error, please use
the reply function to tell us and then permanently delete what you have
received. This email was scanned for viruses by the London Borough of
Havering anti-virus services and on leaving the Authority was found to be
virus free. Please note: Incoming and outgoing e-mail messages are
routinely monitored for compliance with our policy on the use of
electronic communications.
Havering Council’s Privacy Notice can be found on our website Data
Protection,
https://www.havering.gov.uk/info/20044/c...,
which outlines your rights and how we collect, use, store, delete and
protect your personal data.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[Havering Borough Council request email]
3. http://www.havering.gov.uk/
5. http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/Service...
Dear Ms Waugh
Access to Information Request - AIR18618A
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this email acts as
a Refusal Notice.
Under Section 12 (1) of the Act, the Council is not obliged to comply with
a request for information, where it is estimated that the cost of
complying with that request would exceed the ‘appropriate costs limit’.
The Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004
currently sets this limit at £450. These estimated costs are calculated at
a rate of £25 per person per hour and amount to 18 hours work.
Given the time frame of 10 years for which the information is being
requested and level of detail being requested, it is estimated that in
order for the task to be carried out would take in excess of 18 hours and
as such would exceed the legislative limit.
Therefore, we are unable to disclose the information you are seeking and
will not be processing your request further.
You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the
cost to within the 'appropriate limit'.
If you are dissatisfied with the way in which your request has been
handled you have the right to request an internal review by addressing
your reasons to the:
Access to Information Team
London Borough of Havering
Town Hall
Main Road
Romford
RM1 3BD
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner at the
following address:
Office of the Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
[1]www.ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Access to Information
London Borough of Havering
Town Hall, Main Road, Romford, RM1 3BD
t 01708 434343
e [2][Havering Borough Council request email]
w [3]www.havering.gov.uk
text relay 18001 01708 434343
[4]CSPT
Sign up for [5]email updates for local news and information
This document is strictly confidential and is intended only for use by the
addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying,
distribution or other action taken in reliance of the information
contained in this e-mail is strictly prohibited. Any views expressed by
the sender of this message are not necessarily those of the London Borough
of Havering. If you have received this transmission in error, please use
the reply function to tell us and then permanently delete what you have
received. This email was scanned for viruses by the London Borough of
Havering anti-virus services and on leaving the Authority was found to be
virus free. Please note: Incoming and outgoing e-mail messages are
routinely monitored for compliance with our policy on the use of
electronic communications.
Havering Council’s Privacy Notice can be found on our website Data
Protection,
https://www.havering.gov.uk/info/20044/c...,
which outlines your rights and how we collect, use, store, delete and
protect your personal data.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.ico.org.uk/
2. mailto:[Havering Borough Council request email]
3. http://www.havering.gov.uk/
5. http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/Service...
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