Public exercise of inspection and objection rights under Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014
Dear Lancaster City 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 Megan Waugh,
I write to confirm receipt of your request for information, which was
received on 25th September 2019 and is now being processed under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your request has been given the unique
reference number as stated in the subject header above and you should
quote this reference number in all correspondence. You should receive our
response within 20 working days; this means that you can expect to receive
the requested information by 23rd October 2019. If we are unable to deal
with your request within that time limit or the Council does not hold the
information or there is a reason for it to be withheld, we will promptly
advise you in writing.
If you have any queries or concerns then please do not hesitate to contact
me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
Kind regards,
J McGrath
Information Governance Officer
Deputy Data Protection Officer
Email: [1][Lancaster City Council request email]
Tel: (01524) 58 2000
Lancaster City Council,
Town Hall, Lancaster LA1 1PJ
Website: [2]http://www.lancaster.gov.uk
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Dear Megan Waugh,
Freedom of Information Request - Ref: FOI 2873
Thank you for your request received on 25th September 2019 in which you
asked for information from Lancaster City Council.
Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOIA).
Response
I can confirm the following:
In 2015/16 there was one objection, it was dealt with by our external
auditors KMPG.
In 2018/19 there were 2 requests to inspect the accounts, no objections.
All have been dealt with under Public Rights of Inspection rather than
FOI.
If you have any queries or concerns about this response, please contact
this office. For details of how to appeal a decision we have made, see
below.
How to Appeal
Internal Review
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to an
internal review. The handling of your request will be looked at by
someone who was not responsible for the original case, and they will make
a decision as to whether we answered your request correctly.
If you would like to request a review, please write or send an email to
the Council at the following address:
Information Governance
Lancaster City Council
Town Hall
Dalton Square
Lancaster
LA1 1PJ
Email: [1][Lancaster City Council request email]
Information Commissioner’s Office
If you remain dissatisfied after an internal review decision, you have the
right to apply to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The Commissioner
is an independent regulator who has the power to direct us to respond to
your request differently if she considers that we have handled it
incorrectly.
You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at the following
address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a
national rate number
Website: [2]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
Re-use of Public-Sector Information
Some of the information that we provide in response to FOIA requests will
be subject to copyright protection. In most cases the copyright will be
owned by Lancaster City Council. The copyright in other information may be
owned by another person or organisation, as indicated on the information
itself.
You are free to use any information supplied for your own non-commercial
research or private study purposes. The information may also be used for
any other purpose allowed by a limitation or exception in copyright law,
such as news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by
publishing the information in analogue or digital form, including on the
internet, will require the permission of the copyright owner.
For information where the copyright is owned by Lancaster City Council,
please contact this office if you would like to request permission.
For information where the copyright is owned by another person or
organisation you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain their
permission.
Yours sincerely
J McGrath
Information Governance Officer
Deputy Data Protection Officer
Email: [3][Lancaster City Council request email]
Tel: (01524) 58 2000
Lancaster City Council,
Town Hall, Lancaster LA1 1PJ
Website: [4]http://www.lancaster.gov.uk
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[6]www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
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