Transparency

The requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 do not apply to Parish and Town Councils with a gross income or expenditure under £6.5 million, but adherence does represent ‘best practice’. The Code is intended to increase transparency through publication of open data enabling tax payers to see how local authorities use public money. Thornbury Town Council provides this information on this webpage, either listed below directly, or via a link to information already provided elsewhere on our website.

The council is obliged to publish any expenditure over £500, including supplier and transaction information. Please click below to view the quarterly expenditure:

Officers Decisions Made Under Delegated Powers

The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014, Regulation 7, requires that certain types of Officer Decisions are recorded and made available to the public.

The decisions that will be published are:-

1. A specific express delegation to an officer from the Council or Committee

2. A decision made for which the officer has a general delegated authority to make the decision and the effect of that decision is to:-

(a) Grant a permission of licence

(b) Affect the rights of an individual

(c) Award a contract or incur expenditure which has a value of £1500 or more

The information that will be published is:-

1. The decision taken and the date it was taken

2. Reasons for the decision

3. If any alternative options were considered and rejected

4. Where a decision has been taken under a specific delegated authority, any conflict of interest a Councillor has declared

Request for information

Requests can be made for an electronic or paper copy of background documents.

This must be made to the Council in writing.

This request will be dealt with in accordance with any other request for information (e.g. Freedom of Information requests).

The Council may charge a fee for the information requested.

Exemptions

The council only has to record and publish decisions that come within the above categories. To avoid publication of routine matters, the Council will not publish decisions relating to purchases below £1500 or decisions that are purely administrative or operational. If decisions are published elsewhere e.g. planning application decisions, the Council will not republish the information in this table. The Council will not necessarily publish information which is considered confidential or protected from being published by other legislation e.g. Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Data Protection Act 1998. The information in this table will be updated at least monthly.

TENDERS:

We must publish details of every invitation to tender for contracts to provide goods and/or services with a value that exceeds £5,000. Any relevant Invitations To Tender will be published below as they are advertised.

The following tender has now been awarded:

Reference – TTCSTMC290125

Title – Conservation and Repair Works to Monuments at St Marys Churchyard, Thornbury

Description – An expert conservation contractor will carry out conservation and repair works to 50+ monuments (and walls) in the closed churchyard of St Marys Church in Thornbury. The works are fully detailed in the recent churchyard conservation report and include safe removal of mature and invasive ivy from monuments, removal of other vegetation, repointing, repair of sections of stone, resetting of stone, insertion of new stone, etc. The contractor will assist the Town Council with obtaining a Faculty from the local Diocese.

Start Date – 07.04.25

End Date – Physical works to take no longer than six months once relevant permissions are granted.

Local Authority Response – N/A as a Faculty will be obtained from the Diocese which will provide ecclesiastical exemption as all the work will take place on consecrated ground.

CONTRACTS:

We must also publish details of any contract, commissioned activity, purchase order, framework agreement and any other legally enforceable agreement with a value that exceeds £5,000. Current list of such contract activity is below.

WASTE CONTRACTS:

We must publish details of our existing waste contract(s). Details of our existing waste contracts also below

We must publish details of all land and building assets.

In line with the Transparency Code 2015 the Town Council publish details of any senior employee salaries, job title and responsibilities for those earning over £50,000 per annum.

One. Chief Executive and Responsible Finance Officer, NALC SLCC SCP LC3 42-45, £51,802- £55,367. Permanent Contract.

Responsibilities: Proper Officer, legal and statutory requirements of Council, financial management and budgets, insurance and risk, staffing.

Section 38 of the Localism Act 2011 requires us to produce Pay Policy Statements, which should include the authority’s policy on pay dispersion – the relationship between remuneration of chief officers and the remuneration of other staff. This act recommends that the pay multiple is included as a way of illustrating the council’s approach to pay dispersion.

The Thornbury Town Council Pay Multiple as at 1st April 2024 is 2.15.

We must publish the following information about our counter fraud work:

• Total number (absolute and full time equivalent) of employees undertaking investigations and prosecutions of fraud: None
• Total number (absolute and full time equivalent) of professionally accredited counter fraud specialists: None
• Total amount spent by the authority on the investigation and prosecution of fraud: None
• Total number of fraud cases investigated: None

We must publish details of all grants to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.

Financial and legal information, including our budget, Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) expenditure information, is all available on the Finance, Legal & Audit page.

Total number of staff who are union representatives = 0

Total number of union representatives who devote at least 50% of their time to union duties = NONE

Thornbury Town Council do not pay Councillors Allowances.

A Mayoral Allowance is available for use by the Town Mayor/Chairman. View the Mayoral Allowance Policy.

The Local Authority (South Gloucestershire Council) publishes a register of members interests in accordance with the Localism Act 2011. The Register of Interests for all Thornbury Town Council Councillors can be found here: Registers of Interests for Thornbury Town Council Councillors

The Thornbury Town Council Code of Conduct, that Councillors undertake to abide by when they accept office is available below