Barnet Council have yet again shown their utter disregard for the public by withholding the value of allowances paid to member for the year 2010-11. We are now in the financial year 2012/13 and the accounts for 2011-12 were published last September, eight months ago. But what about payments to Councillors. They remain unpublished and a Freedom of Information Request today has told me:
"Information for 2010-11 will be published on our website later in the financial year. This information is therefore exempt under section 22 of the FOIA, which exempts from disclosure information intended for future publication. This response therefore acts as a Refusal Notice".
Well I say to Barnet Council - PULL YOUR FINGER OUT! If it takes more than a year to publish the allowances paid to 63 councillors then either your systems or the people running them are failing.
I suspect the exemption is only valid if publication is due within a reasonable period of time. Given that the council has this information at its fingertips, this is obfuscation pure and simple. So much for an open and accountable council.
ReplyDeleteHi DCMD, The culture of secrecy at Barnet Council is crippling the council's efficient operation and that impacts every single Barnet resident. Forget One Barnet, let's have Open Barnet.
ReplyDelete