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Despite appeals from local democracy reporters, the city council continues to withhold a confidential report on its finances.
As previously reported in HTFP, Nottingham City Council has refused to publish a report by accountants Ernst & Young into illegal spending of up to £40 million.
In September, the Local Democracy Press Office appealed the council’s decision to refuse a Freedom of Information request originally submitted in July.
Now, after an appeal and an internal review, the council has upheld the decision to keep the information private.
Nottingham Post’s previous reporting on parliamentary secrecy
David Brewster, senior information officer, said: “The disclosure of this report undermines ongoing remediation work on financial management across the council and the delivery of good governance which is contrary to the public interest in disclosure. ” he said in his response.
“We believe disclosure is likely to have a negative impact on this remediation process.
“There is a strong public interest in ensuring that the quality and candor of this improvement process is not compromised by the disclosure of reports relating to confidential processes.
“The public interest clearly lies in protecting the ability of senior officials and commissioned parties to carry out this process and maintain confidentiality.
“It is the council’s opinion that there is no compelling public interest in revoking this confidentiality.
“Disclosure of this report is therefore considered to have a significant disruptive effect. It would divert the Council’s limited resources from managing the effectiveness of the disclosure of the confidential report and future disclosures.” It will be repurposed.”
The Notts TV website reports that the Local Democracy Press now plans to appeal the decision to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Kevin Clarke, leader of Nottingham’s independence and rebel groups, said: After all, we live in a democracy and it was taxpayers’ money that paid for this study. ”
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