Public exercise of inspection and objection rights under Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014
Dear Norfolk County 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 Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Information Request ENQ-366311
Thank you for your request for information received on 25th September.
We have 20 working days in which to deal with your request which brings us
to 23rd October. If we require clarification regarding your request, we
will contact you to explain this. The 20 working day period will then
start from the day that we receive your clarification
You will also be informed in advance if there is a charge for supplying
copies of the information.
Please also be aware that, if the requested information contains
references to any third parties, we may need to consult these individuals
about the release of their personal data before making a decision whether
or not to release the information to you.
We will also provide an explanation if any information is not released to
you.
Should you have any queries regarding your request, please contact the
team by email [email address] or by telephone 01603
222661.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Team
Dear Ms Waugh
Freedom of Information Request ENQ-366311-N9X3D9
I refer to your request for information dated 25 September 2019
You asked for:
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
Our response:
Please find our response detailed on the attached spreadsheet as
requested.
Please note – Question B, we gave a series of answers to follow up
questions, so there is a date range in column J.
If you are dissatisfied with our handling of your request you have the
right of appeal through the Council’s internal review procedure by setting
out the grounds of your appeal in writing to:
[1][email address]
or Information Compliance Team
Room 043
County Hall
Martineau Lane
Norwich
NR1 2DH
An appeal should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of this
notice and should be identified as "FOI Appeal".
If you are dissatisfied after pursuing the complaints procedure, you may
apply to the Information Commissioner under Section 50 of the Act for a
decision whether your request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of Part I of the Act. Refer to the ICO
Website at: [2]https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ for advice on how to report a
concern. Or you can write to them at:
First Contact Team
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane, Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Bev Whittaker, Information Compliance Officer
Information Management
Tel: 01603 638017 | Dept: 01603 222661
Bays 7,8 & 9, Ground Floor, South Wing, County Hall, Martineau Lane,
Norwich
[3]Norfolk County Council [4]Twitter[5]Facebook[6]Web
[7]Campaign Logo
From: Information Management
Sent: 26 September 2019 09:54
To: '[FOI #607330 email]'
<[FOI #607330 email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - ENQ-366311-Public exercise of
inspection and objection rights under Local Audit and Accountability Act
2014
Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Information Request ENQ-366311
Thank you for your request for information received on 25th September.
We have 20 working days in which to deal with your request which brings us
to 23rd October. If we require clarification regarding your request, we
will contact you to explain this. The 20 working day period will then
start from the day that we receive your clarification
You will also be informed in advance if there is a charge for supplying
copies of the information.
Please also be aware that, if the requested information contains
references to any third parties, we may need to consult these individuals
about the release of their personal data before making a decision whether
or not to release the information to you.
We will also provide an explanation if any information is not released to
you.
Should you have any queries regarding your request, please contact the
team by email [8][email address] or by telephone
01603 222661.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Team
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