Industry bosses are backing plans for a ‘transparency code’ for parish councils that would force them to publish their accounts and other information online.
Under new laws, authorities with an annual turnover under £25,000 will be exempt from routine external audits.
Instead, they will be subject to transparency requirements laid out in the draft code, the consultation states.
This will include a requirement to publis end of year accounts, annual governance statements,internal audit report, location of public land and building assets, councillor responsibilities.
Under the code, parish councils would be required to publish data electronically on their websites or those of the relevant district council.
The Newspaper Society said: “Access to such information is particularly important for local weekly newspapers and associated hyperlocal websites, given its direct interest and importance to their local readers and contributors.”
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Why bother? When was the last time your paper attended a parish or town council meeting to report on it. Relying on colour free follow ups and press releases? Same goes for court reports. Must get out more.
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I am sure the reporters, like those I work with, would love to get out more – if only the staff had not been stripped back to the bone by newspaper publishers looking to cut costs in a bid to keep their titles afloat. Our local newspapers are in crisis and insead of attacking the hard-working journalists who do care about their communities and are working their socks off to cover their areas, please go out an buy the paper or better still, advertise in it. Then maybe they can employ more staff to do the job properly.
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