Reading the Council's "commitment to be open and transparent" is enough to make any Salford resident weep with the democracy of it all. It states clearly on Salford Council's website…
"The city council will be providing supplier payment and procurement details on a monthly basis from January 2011. Publication of these lists forms part of the government's and the city council's commitment to be open and transparent about its financial affairs for all interested parties, including residents of the city.
"The downloadable reports provided below list all payments to suppliers over £500 and there is also information on contracts let by the city council's corporate procurement unit…"
Yet, since the financial data published for February this year there's been absolutely nothing. No details at all about any expenditure over £500. Nothing about contracts that the Council has entered into. Just nothing. Zero.
Why could this be? Could it be because the last set of financial data for February showed thousands of pounds going to consultants, ex Salford Council officers and marketing companies with no explanation at all ? (see here).
Or the list of expenditure for January which showed over £500,000 going to Peel Holdings, a grant of over £84,000 going to the multi-billion euro turnover company Sodexo and over £1million of `redacted' payments to companies? (see here)
Or the original December 2010 list which showed hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on consultants, over £30,000 on hotels and over £20,000 on opinion surveys? (see here)
No financial has been published "in the city council's commitment to be open and transparent about its financial affairs for all interested parties, including residents of the city".
So who do you complain to? The Government, currently up to its neck with its hacking and corruption scandal? Salford City Council, perhaps? In yer dreams!
See previous Salford Star article on expenditure blackout click here
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