Transparency agenda

We believe that transparency is a key condition and driver for the delivery of our services.

As a publicly-funded organisation, we have a duty to be transparent in our business operations and outcomes in order to deliver value for money for the tax payers we serve.

The external audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021 has not yet been completed by our external auditors, EY LLP, due to some procedures involving property, plant and equipment, investment property, and pension valuations being ongoing. This situation is allowed for by Regulation 10, paragraph (2a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015.

Therefore this notification explains, as per paragraph (2a), that we’re not yet able to publish our audited 2020/21 final statement of accounts in line with the deadline of 30th September 2021, as per the Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2021.

The Governance and Audit and Standards Committee considered an interim results report of the 2020/21 audit at its meeting on 24 September 2021 and delegated authority to the Chair of the Governance and Audit and Standards Committee to sign an amended 2020/21 Statement of Accounts should this be required, after which we will publish the final audited accounts.

Council accounts can be downloaded below, or follow the links to find:

• data about payments to council suppliers
• information about the salaries of the council senior management
• details of council contracts with suppliers on the contracts register

Public authorities must publish information to demonstrate compliance with the Equality Act 2010.

The information available to download below relates to people who are either employed by the council, or who are affected by our policies and practices, and who share a protected characteristic. Protected characteristics are defined in the Equality Act as age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

In 2013, we invited a review team to look at how well the council was performing, what we could do better and how we could further build on some of our strengths. This exercise is known as a corporate peer challenge and is sponsored by the Local Government Association.

The title of the council’s challenge was: ‘what more could Portsmouth City Council be doing to achieve quality outcomes for citizens in a time of financial austerity and in the context of reduced public resources?’

The review team published their report as a letter to the council’s Chief Executive, which you can read below.

For more information on the corporate peer challenge, email strategy@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

Trade Union Facilities Report 2021

Trade Union Facilities Report 2020