Oakham Town Council not Complying with the Transparency Code 2014 or making any preparations for GDPR

for some time now Cllr Michael Haley Chairman has written to me telling me that Oakham
Town Council does not have to comply with the Transparency Code 2014
When they do and to a higher standard than a small parish council.

The Council fails to comply with the code which brings together many laws a council
should comply with.

If the council fails to comply it is running the risk of having its precept taken away
by instruction from the minister for local government.

I was looking at the councils dreadful website and found a new policy document
titled the Transparency Code 2014

The document only shows part of what the council is required to do and even that
it is not currently complying with. All Parish Council should have been ready
to comply with the code by July this year. At this point Oakham Town Council
had no knowledge of the code.

The policy document has not been approved by council so I am not sure the
reason behind this being slipped onto the website.
Do Oakham Town Council think they can fool the local government minister into
thinking they comply with the code I think not.




I have written to the chairman and included a copy of the mystery policy document.



Dear Cllr Michael Haley Chairman

Why has a section of the Local Government Transparency Code 2014 appeared
on the council website under policy

You have written to me many times telling me the code does not apply to Oakham Town Council

Oakham Town Council has not approved this document for publication.

What is more interesting it highlights our failings.

For example no supporting papers are published with the published agendas and the agendas
are deleted after the meeting when they should remain on the website for at least two years.



1. Every single item of expenditure requires the specific, recorded approval of the full Town Council during its monthly meetings, (except August) each year.

This applies to the payment made to Plantscape, I believe in the region of £8000 was reported in the last clerks report.
I would have expected the council to comply with the audit act and the payment being over £5000 should have been
brought to council as an agenda item.

There is still no published recording of meetings.

The list of code and law failings being made by Oakham Town Council is considerable long when is this going to
be sorted?

The Clerk had plenty of notice to ensure the council had complied with the new code by the July 2017 Deadline

The same applies to failure of the council to even look at the replacement for data protection act which
comes into force in May 2018. I do hope we are not the first council to be prosecuted for not complying
with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

From

Martin Brookes





Oakham Town Council

The Local Government Transparency Code, 2014

A brief summary of the Code’s requirements
1. The code requires that financial data held and managed by the Town Council should be made available publicly unless there are specific “sensitivities” (e.g. protecting vulnerable people, or commercial and operational considerations), to doing so. The code does not replace or supersede existing legal frameworks (e.g. Freedom of Information Act 2000, as amended).
2. Oakham Town Council’s annual budget, which exceeds £200,000 pa. (income), is directly affected by this code. Certain items of specified expenditure (defined in the code) exceeding £500 must be published openly, at least quarterly. Other items, again specified in the code, must be published annually.
3. The full code can be downloaded the web site (DC&LG).
The Town Council’s system for publishing the required information
1. Every single item of expenditure requires the specific, recorded approval of the full Town Council during its monthly meetings, (except August) each year.
2. The full agenda is attached to the legally required Public notice of every meeting, on the Town Notice Boards and the Town Council’s web site. A detail schedule of all items of expenditure and income is included in the supporting papers for the meetings approval. Once approval is given, the minutes of the meeting are made available on the Town Council’s web site, including the paper specifying every item of expenditure and income. Salaries, all of which are well below the limits specified in the Code for more detailed publishing, are listed as one collective amount in accordance with the code’s directions (pay multiple’s).
Requests for supplementary information
Members of the public are welcome to request additional information upon any item of expenditure by e-mail or by letter to the Clerk of Oakham Town Council. Where information cannot be given, an explanation will be provided as to why, with the response.