Has implementation of the Transparency Code stalled?

Question

The Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities was published in 2014 with expected implementation by July 2015 and publication of the second set of annual data to be completed by July 2016.                                                                                                                      A glance at parish council websites in the locality indicates that no data has yet been published. Has there been a relaxation of implementation timescales?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Not so far as I know. NALC lobbied for a delay to April 2016. From what they say it appears that they did not get what they asked for so the April 2015 date still stands, but instead obtained access to a fund to assist councils in meeting the requirements.

According to NALC "From 1 April 2017 the publication of the Transparency Code requirements for smaller authorities will entirely replace external audit, therefore compliance with the Transparency Code is taken very serious by Ministers. Failure to comply with the Code may result in judicial proceedings, which by nature are likely to be costly and lengthy". That could be read as implying that there isn't too much concern about failures to comply prior to April 2017.

Despite what they say, I find it hard to imagine a government department, strapped for cash, embarking on judicial proceedings against large numbers of small councils with extremely damaging implications for a disproportionate precept and hence council tax charge. The reality seems to be that small councils are having difficulty meeting the requirements and possibly do not all understand them. Presumably everyone will eventually muddle through and perhaps most councils will in time publish the required information. There may be some sabre rattling from government.

Comments

I wrote to the DCLG to ask what sanctions there are on Parish Councils who ignore the ‘mandatory’ Transparency Code? I was told:
‘We have not established a centrally driven mechanism to monitor compliance or put in place what you term as ‘sanctions’.’

The reply continued:
‘If local people are unhappy with the data their authority publishes they can continue to use existing complaints procedures to pursue a remedy. This includes utilising the parish council’s complaints procedure; raising the matter at a parish meeting; raising concerns during the public inspection period of accounts for the annual audit; or by joining with a group of local electors to call for a parish poll on the issue.
It is for the parish council concerned to consider the evidence raised in any of the above public representations and to take action in line with statute and their standing orders and complaints procedures. ‘
In other words Parish Councils are supposed to monitor themselves - and we all know what this means.

Of concern to me is that NALC is dishing out £4.7m of public money to enable Parish Councils to become compliant but with no monitoring to ensure that PCs that get cash then go on to meet the requirements of the Code.