For those of you who follow this blog you will know the problems I have been having getting a copy of the accounts for the year ends 31st March 2010 & 2011.
Here is the "quick" summary and a conclusion?:
August 2010:
I asked for a copy of the accounts for year ended 31st March 2010; told unable to provide as they are with the external Auditor for signing off; asked for a copy when they are available.
October 2010:
I asked if they were now available; told they were available for inspection in May / June 2010, but I am entitled to view the annual return by appointment between 10.00 am and 3.00pm up until the following week; again asked for a copy of the accounts; told accounts are being prepared and I could collect by the end of the month.
November 2010:
Asked again for a copy of the accounts; told now available and I collected them in a sealed envelope.
December 2010:
Looked at documents, not the ones I requested, provided detailed headings to BTC of the 20 documents I wanted
January 2011:
BTC asked if I could be more specific with regard to the precise documents I required; repeated list of documents I had been provided with for the last five years; documents available 24th January 2011 at a cost of 80 pence; collected documents which were in the right format but on closer examination later were for year ended 31st March 2009; again asked for the right documents; told documents now available for collection.
I also asked in January 2011 if BTC can you tell me how the planning application for the Health Centre was funded and expenditure allocated within the Town Council Accounts?
February 2011:
I collected the account documents for year ended 31st March 2010.
June 2011:
Requested from BTC copy of year-end accounts for 31st March 2011; told available; statement only not detailed breakdown.
July 2011:
told on 4th July year-end accounts for 31st March 2011 would not be available until 15th July, when I challenged BTC they were provided immediately.
Having been trying without success since January 2011, to get from Biggleswade Town Council the answer to the question, can you tell me how this application was funded and expenditure allocated within the Town Council Accounts, in relation to the health centre planning application, I went to the Information Commissioner.
August 2011:
ICO wrote to BTC telling them to provide the information.
September 2011:
As this was dragging on and the deadline to object to the accounts was the end of September, I lodged an objection to the accounts with the main auditors and hand delivered a copy to BTC.
October 2011:
BTC told auditors they had not received documents objecting to the accounts, another copy hand delivered.
ICO having been trying to talk to Town Clerk for the last month advised me to ask for an Internal Review, which I did.
November 2011:
BTC Internal Review completed & told my request was similar to one I had made in December 2010 which had been answered in January 2011. In the letter from BTC, sums of money for the Health Centre Application were being quoted which did not appear on any of the accounting documents I had been given, which were supposed to be the year-end accounts.
December 2011:
Auditors responded and said they could not investigate previous years and the bulk of the expenditure went through year ended 31st March 2010, but for year ended 31st March 2011 the council expended £5,876.70 & for year ended 31st March 2012, £3,213.30 on the Health Centre Application.
I again asked for a copy of the accounts for year-ends 31st March 2010 & 2011 which reflected the figures the Auditors and BTC were now quoting to me.
January 2012:
BTC told me they had already provided me with the documents. I pointed out again the figures did not match those the Auditors and BTC were quoting. BTC then suddenly did not know which documents I wanted and suggested I meet their Auditors. For ongoing family health reasons this did not happen. It would have been a pointless exercise as they had previously advised that if BTC produced the documents then under the Freedom of Information Act they should provide them or provide a valid reason why they should not.
March 2012:
I had been collecting agendas and associated papers for Council and Committee meetings but had not had the time to attend the meetings or look at the papers until then. Included in the documents was a bundle of accounting information for month 9 December 2011. This was in the format that the Mayor had told me was produced especially for me, no one else wanted it and BTC had no use for it. I again asked for a copy of the accounts for year-ends 31st March 2010 & 2011 which reflected the figures the Auditors and BTC were now quoting to me. I was told again to talk to the auditors, but insisted that it was the responsibility of BTC to provide and asked for them by 17th April 2012 or we go back to ICO.
April 2012:
BTC emailed a copy of the accounts that appear to reflect the correct figures.
Link to year-end breakdown - 31st March 2011
Any questions should be directed to Biggleswade Town Council -
town.clerk@biggleswadetowncouncil.gov.uk
Any questions should be directed to Biggleswade Town Council -
town.clerk@biggleswadetowncouncil.gov.uk
The next challenge is to get a copy of year-end 31st March 2012.
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