Submission on an extension of the Local Government Transparency Code to the Housing, Local

Government and Transport Commission of Labour’s National Policy Forum

An extension of the Local Government Transparency Code would answer in part the questions
“How can we make sure that local authorities have the resources they need to deliver the level of
services needed for communities?” and “How do we decide what services local authorities should
be delivering, particularly at a time of Tory imposed austerity?” asked in the Housing, Local
Government and Transport Commission’s discussion paper. An extension of the Local Government
Transparency Code would allow the public to be better informed about how money is spent by local
authorities and the value for money local authorities offer.

I would like to submit the following proposal for an extension of the Local Government
Transparency Code to require local authorities to publish:

1) The broken-down total costs of employment, non-individually identifiable job titles and
administrative groups of all staff including bank/agency staff and contractors.

2) Detailed non-individually identifiable staff sickness data by department.

3) Procurement contracts and related documents, excluding those parts the local authority can
demonstrate need to be confidential for commercial reasons.

4) Private Finance Initiative contracts and related documents, excluding those parts the local
authority can demonstrate need to be confidential for commercial reasons.