Background
Government requires that all public sector organisations,
publish expenditures that are over £500.
As a council, all our financial information and budget setting
has always been publicly available here, and decisions on our
budget setting are made in public meetings.
However, the Government wants to improve transparency so the aim
of publishing each 'spend' over £500 is to make it easy for you to
see more specifically how we spend money.
This does not include grant aid or cases where some of our funds
are transferred to another council such as Somerset County Council
to deliver part of a partnership service as it would be misleading
to publish these in this format as a separate 'spend', but SSDC
would be more than happy to go through this with you if you are
interested.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Detailed below are some spend areas that require a little more
explanation, we have attempted to cover most of the significant
areas that look interesting, however as with such a big amount of
data its inevitable that some other areas could exist that on the
face of the spending data look " worthy of more explanation"
- Under Utilities, heading "Other" Windmills and Wind power
equipment value £32,550.00.
Explanation, whilst this shows as a spend
against the councils a large proportion of the cost was recouped
from Grants from Central Government and a major Energy supplier the
actual cost to the councils was less than £15K.
- Under Utilities, Water Companies a very large spend of
£154,247.00 shows in the data.
Explanation, the number is distorted compared
to other district councils, primarily due to the council owning and
running its own swimming pool and this has a high cost in terms of
water and effluent charges.
- Facilities management, Security, Security Services, large spend
of £142,827.00
Explanation, due to the categorisation our cash
collection spends has been lumped in with Security Services. A
large proportion of this spend is on our cash collection contract
which covers collection and delivery of cash from all council
offices ands more importantly all public car parks.
- Arts and Leisure Services has a collective very large spend of
£606,732.00.
Explanation, this council has a well-regarded
local Theatre and this spend reflects the investment in this valued
local services.
- Catering, Food and Beverages, Brewers with a substantial spend
of £21,198.00
Explanation, we have a theatre with a bar and
the spend with St, Austell Brewery is for bar stocks sold to the
public
- Furniture and soft Furnishings, Office furniture and equipment,
has a large spend of £62K.
Explanation, although listed as furniture,
includes all the office suppliers that the council has used
including paper etc.
We have provided explanations to the most obvious and largest
spend areas undoubtedly others small spend areas may look
interesting, the council will be more than happy to answer such
questions as they arise.
Government Procurement
Cards
In accordance with the Transparency Agenda, South Somerset
District Council wishes to fully and correctly engage with and
support central government policy to make as much of the spending
decisions we make available to public scrutiny.
You can view monthly spend reports on the Government Procurement Card page.
Payment Performance Statistics
Under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 we are required to
publish data demonstrating compliance with the obligation to pay
invoices within 30 days to first tier suppliers/prime contractors
over the previous 12 months.
| Finance
Year |
% of invoices paid within 30
days |
| 2015/16 |
97% |
| 2016/17 |
97% |
No interest was paid to suppliers due to late payment.
Central Government
Central Government's Transparency Agenda also allows you to see
a whole range of information and publications. For more
information, visit the Cabinet Office Transparency page
online.
Expenditure Exceeding £500
Expenditure Exceeding
£500