30 days of being able to see any of the council's invoices or reports
Inspection of Accounts
Update 2: Wrong date!
Once a year, residents and journalists have a legal right to inspect a council’s accounts (with some exemptions for commercial confidentiality). Application should initially be made by email to budgets.and.accounting@bristol.gov.uk.
I’m not sure of the precise dates for this year but I will let people know as soon I do. It is wise to give the council as much time as possible to find the information you request.
You can find invoices of what the council spends on the website but you don’t have to limit yourself to what is online.
As the notice states, “At reasonable notice they may request access to all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers and receipts”.
Two years ago, for example, I requested the invoices related to the mayor’s office [see Twitter thread].
One batch of invoices were related to Pegasus catering, which seemed to be in relation to food at meetings at City Hall.
The City Gathering, from which residents and opposition councillors are excluded had a catering invoice for over £1000.
The taxpayer funded meeting included 500 tea & coffees, 250 mini Danishes, 250 fruit kebabs, and 6 fruit juices.
Several meetings by the mayor’s office involved catering and this seemed to be in contrast to practice around City Hall.
Other costs discovered included a consultancy who had been paid £70k for a value for money report, then charging the council when they were called to a scrutiny meeting to discuss that report.
Contact me if you need any pointers or would like more information about invoices, and I’ll do my best to help.
Application should initially be made by email to budgets.and.accounting@bristol.gov.uk.