What does transparency mean?
When a [local] government is transparent its citizens (and other observers) can see its inner workings—its processes, procedures, budgets, priorities, plans, and decision making strategies. Transparent [local] government is conducted “in the sunshine” so all can see what is going on.
‘Fostering Transparency in Local Government’
Journal of Management Policy and Practice Vol. 16(1) 2015
Transparency means showing you how we work, how we make decisions, and how we spend public money. The aim is to ensure that you understand how we are conducting local government business, and offering as many opportunities as possible for you to ask questions, have your say, and easily understand what we deliver for you.
The Local Government Transparency Code Checklist
The government has published a Local Government Transparency Code, which gives a best practice list of information that we can provide to give you as much information about the Combined Authority as possible.
Below you can find the Local Government Transparency Code Checklist, with the relevant links to our information.
- expenditure over £500
- government procurement card transactions
- procurement information (Constitution)
- grants to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations – none
- organisation chart
- senior salaries
- the pay multiple
- trade union facility time – none
- local land assets – none
- social housing asset value – none
- parking accounts and parking spaces – none
- fraud policy
- the constitution.
The Local Assurance Framework
The government has also created a National Local Assurance Framework, which requires Mayoral Combined Authorities that also have responsibility for a Local Enterprise Partnership, like the Business Board, to publish a Local Assurance Framework.
Finance
Having reviewed our processes for over £500 transaction publications, and compared with other Local Authorities, we have rationalised the merchant categories to bring this more in-line with what is used elsewhere.
The revised Merchant Categories are in use from the publication of data from July 2022, so please note that the same supplier may have a different Merchant Category from that used in publications prior to this date.