Transparency Code Part 1

Posted : Blog Post : 13.01.2020 - North West Open Data

This post summarises the first section of the Department for Communities and Local Government Transparency Code 2015. The document is split into 3 parts with 3 related Annexes

  • Part 1 Introduction, which sets out the context of the document, government postion, basic principles and aims, scope, legal context, a clarification of “commercial confidentiality” and exemptions, the timeliness of reporting and handling errors and finally details of further information and support (Paragraphs 1-25)

  • Part 2 Information that must be published, this sets out reports to be produced quarterly, anually and reports that only need to be produced once. High level descriptions of reports is provided and methods of publication specified(Paragraphs 26-55)

  • Part 3 Information recommended for publication, this section sets out that Part 2 defines the minimum data that local authorities must produce and then sets out aspirations for publication and proposes a 1-5 star rating system and a statement that the government expects 3 star quality within 6 months of the Code being issued. (Paragraphs 56-70)

1. Part 1 : Introduction

1.1. Policy Context

Government desire

  • More power into citizen’s hands

  • Increase democratic accountability

  • Ease local citizens contribution to decision making

  • Help shape public services

  • Transparency giving a greater role in society

  • Help open new markets for local business, voluntaryand community and social

  • enterprises to run or manage public services

Data is

  • Objective and factual

  • Used in policy decisions

  • Used to assess public services

“the Government believes that in principle all data held and managed by local authorities should be made available to local people unless there are specific sensitivities (eg.protecting vulnerable people or commercial and operational considerations) to doing so.“

— Part 1
Section 4

Three basic principles of this code

  • Demand led

  • Open

  • Timely

The Code will ensure local people can see

  • How money is spent

  • Use of assets

  • Decision making and senior staff pay

  • Important local issues

Local authorities are encouraged to review the responses to a Government consultation

Fraud considerations

1.2. Application

Section 9-13 set out the legal context and framework

”The Code applies in England only. “
— Part 1 Section 13

1.3. Definitions

“local authority” means

  • a county council in England

  • a district council

  • a parish council which has gross annual income or expenditure (whichever is the higher) exceeding £200,000

  • a London borough council

  • the Common Council of the City of London in its capacity as a local authority

  • the Council of the Isles of Scilly

  • a National Park authority for a National Park in England

  • the Broads Authority

  • the Greater London Authority so far as it exercises its functions through the Mayor

  • the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority

  • Transport for London

  • a fire and rescue authority (constituted by a scheme undersection 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 or a scheme to which section 4 of that Act applies, and a metropolitan county fire and rescue authority)

  • a joint authority established by Part IVi of the Local Government Act 1985 (fire and rescue services and transport)

  • a joint waste authority, i.e. an authority established for an area in England by an order undersection 207of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007

  • an economic prosperity board established under section 88 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009

  • a combined authority established under section 103 of that Act

  • a waste disposal authority, i.e. an authority established under section 10 of the Local Government Act 1985, and

  • an integrated transport authority for an integrated transport area in England.

1.4. Data Protection

The Codes relationship with the Data Protection Act 1998 is discussed

  • published data must be compliant with the act

  • the act doeas not restrict information being published because there is a "legitimate public interest” about councillors and senior council officials

  • the act does not automatically prevent suppliers (including sole traders)

  • being named due to “accountability and transparency“

  • when the act specifically prohibits disclosure the Information Commissioner’s Office has guidelines on ‘anonymisation’ so insightful yet compliant data can be published

  • section 17 and 18 describe special treatment for disclosing social housing data to protect individuals

The anonymisation link referenced is no longer active, it has been archived on the ICO website. It can now be found at Anonymisation Code. The Data Protection Act has been updated, the latest version is Data protection Act 2018. The document should probably be updated to be compliant with the latest act

1.5. Licences

An note of caution to avoid infringement of licence agreement with the Royal Mail

1.6. Commercial Confidentiality

_”Local authorities should expect to publish details of contracts newly entered into –commercial confidentiality should not, in itself, be a reason for local authorities to not follow the provisions of this Code.“
— Part 1 Section 20

1.7. Exclusions and Exemptions

Local authorities must not contravene the following sections of the Local Government Act 1972

  • 100A – Information revealed in non-public principal council meeting

  • 100B – Meeting reports and agendas related to non-public council meetings

  • 100F – Exempt documents

Where information would fall within the disclosure exemptions of the following

1.8. Timeliness and Errors

Emphasis on accuracy at first publication, emphasising “robust information management processes”. Where revised information is required the ammendments should be made clear.

1.9. Further Guidance and Support

The Local Government Association has published guidance, the link doesnt work but the Guides can be found here. The guides will be covered in the second post in this series where the technical specifications of of the reports will be discussed.

The local authority has to report other datasets to Central Government, the latest list can be found on the The Single Data List.

2. References