Transparency Policy

Document Version Control

Version No.

Date Change Made

Changes Made By (initial)

Comment

00.01

 

HW

New policy for Transparency. Adopted at MTC 15.7.19 Agenda item 10.1

01.01

June 2022

LS

Updated

 

Contents

toc goes in here

1. Introduction

1.1 The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 was issued by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to define the publication of information by local authorities about the discharge of their functions.

1.2 The code applies to local authorities that meet certain criteria, including Parish Councils that have an annual income exceeding £200,000.

1.3 Macclesfield Town Council is committed to being open and transparent and will adhere to the Local Government Transparency Code    guidelines.

2. Why we publish data

2.1 Improved governance – enabling the public to understand how the council spends its money on services and community improvements within the town.

2.2 Promote accountability – demonstrating the council’s commitment to being open on its expenditure.

3. Principles

a. Open data by default

The council will:

  • Publish data openly unless there are legitimate reasons why some data cannot be released, in particular pertaining to intellectual property, commercial sensitivity, personally identifiable data and sensitive data.
  • Publish expenditure data on a single web page so it can be found easily, in one place and is easy to access.
  • Ensure that all data processing is compliant with any legal and contractual requirements including the Data Protection Act 2018.

b. Quality and Quantity

The council will:

  • Release open data that is timely, comprehensive and accurate. Where practical, the data will be in the original and unmodified form.
  • Release data as early as possible following each quarter’s accounting end-of-month close down procedure.

c. Usable by all

The council will:

  • Wherever possible, release expenditure data in .csv (comma separated value) format to make the data as widely available as possible to the widest range of users.

4. What data we publish

Data we publish

Data set

Frequency

Expenditure over £500

Quarterly

Voluntary and Community Sector grants

Quarterly

Contracts & Invitations to Tender/Quote

Quarterly, invitation to tender over £5,000 and contracts awarded over £5,000

Fraud

Annually at the end of the financial year

Constitution

Updated as required and reviewed annually

Land and building assets

Updated as required and reviewed annually