Three year 'deficit' on council credit cards

EWAN LAMB reports on a non-publication mystery at SBC

Scottish Borders Council's failure to publish details of credit card spending by its top officials over the last three years has been attributed to "changes to staff roles and responsibilities" despite the local authority's repeated pledge to be 'open and transparent' with the information it holds.

The use of credit cards by the Newtown St Boswells-based council has stirred controversy in the past with local Tory MP (then a member of the Scottish Parliament) John Lamont obtaining the payment details via Freedom of Information [FOI].

But after a flurry of data for 2014 and 2015 coupled with an unequivocal declaration that "we are committed to regularly publishing details on our credit card spending" there has been no disclosure whatsoever for 2016, 2017 or 2018.

Now it has emerged in a response to another FOI request for the backdated information that SBC plans to publish three years worth of facts and figures in February 2019. Because the council has stipulated a specific publication date within twelve weeks of the FOI request being lodged the local authority claims it does not need to supply the asked for data until February.

The saga of credit card expenditure at SBC stretches back over almost a decade. Mr Lamont's January 2014 disclosure revealed there had been nearly 1,000 transactions over the previous three years with two departments – the chief executive and environment & infrastructure – emerging as the most prodigious users of plastic cards.

Lists of all items and services bought by this method were released by Mr Lamont ( MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire) who claimed Borderers would be “staggered” at the level of spending.

At that time the Border Telegraph reported a council statement which said:“Elected members play no part in sanctioning the use of the credit card…” 

According to the Telegraph the list provided to Mr Lamont showed that, between April, 2012 and November 2013, the chief executive’s department made credit card purchases worth £28,398, compared to £18,057 between November, 2010 and March, 2012.

A statement from Mr Lamont’s office noted: “The chief executive’s credit card included several purchases from Amazon totalling hundreds of pounds. “There were also several purchases from iTunes as well as money spent at bars and restaurants.

“Meanwhile, the environment & infrastructure departmental spend was mainly on accommodation and travel, although it did include items such as a woman’s jacket and a man’s fleece.” 

Mr Lamont told the paper: “I am sure that many Borders residents will be staggered to see the level of spending that has been put on these council credit cards. In the current economic climate it is unbelievable that it was considered appropriate to spend so much taxpayers’ money on items such as these.

“While some of them are undoubtedly necessary, many of them seem not to be and could easily have been avoided. For example, the spending on fees paid to attend conferences and awards ceremonies does seem excessive."

The subsequent transactions for 2014 and 2015 remain posted on the council's website. Examples included on the chief executive's list of purchases include three payments totalling over £135 to the Conciliation & Arbitration Service for mediation training; accommodation for the 2015 General Election count in June 2015 (£127.15) and a foreign exchange fee for a European Commission event (£1.05).

In the same year the Corporate Transformation Service at SBC used its card to pay shipping and insurance costs associated with the acquisition of Mungo Park's trunk (£991.48) and accommodation for seven at the Tomorrow's People Awards (£452.50).

But unfortunately the information trail ends in December 2015 with no further details published since then.

The recent FOI request to the council asked:"Unfortunately details of corporate credit card spending for 2016, 2017 and 2018 have never been published. A – why?; and B – Please provide full details of credit card spending by the council officers listed on the web page for those “missing” years of 2016, 2017 and 2018.

"Secondly – Please explain why the Council’s Freedom of Information archive has not been updated at all since March 2018 when previously it was updated on a monthly basis. It means potential FOI requesters cannot see what information has been released under the council’s ‘open and transparent’ regime before submitting requests which may have already been answered. Would a properly maintained archive not save staff in all council departments time and effort?"

Here is the council's response in full:

"Changes to staff roles and responsibilities have delayed the publication of the 2016 & 2017 credit card spend. On this occasion, 2018 will be published at the same time as 2016 & 2017.

"We can advise that credit card spending by council officers for years 2016, 2017 and 2018 will be updated and published publicly within 12 weeks of your request being made. The information you have requested is due to be made publicly available by 26th February 2019. Therefore we are relying on S27 of FOI(S)A 2002, information intended for future publication.

"We have considered the second part of your request and concluded that this is not a request for recorded information. However, I can advise that although we strive to publish FOIs on a regular basis, it is a very manual and onerous task and is not a statutory duty placed on us by the legislation and therefore it is not always given priority.

"Over the past 18 months, the team has been leading on implementing changes required by new data protection legislation throughout the Council and this has placed a strain on team resources.  Nevertheless, please be reassured that work is ongoing to bring the archive up to date and we expect to publish a large number of FOIs within the next week or so.

"We are developing a new FOI log with the view to improve the process of publishing making it much more efficient in the future".