Transparency

In September 2011, the secretary of state for Communities and Local Government issued the Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on Data Transparency (link shown at the end of this page). The code was produced as part of the government’s commitment to increase transparency to every area of public life and to introduce details for making public data generated by local authorities available and accessible.

Following this and as part of the council's policy to be transparent, the Council is now routinely publishing more data to enhance its accountability. Please see below for the information the council is publishing. Also please check the Council’s Publication Scheme (link shown at the end of this page) where the Council publishes information as per the guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office

All councils have to publish a Statement of Accounts covering specified matters. It shows how we have used public money, and that we have been honest and responsible. The Council’s Statement of Accounts has been prepared in accordance with the Accounting Code of Practice.

The council recognises the value and contribution made by many voluntary and community groups throughout the city. Finding money to support projects can be a challenge and council has several grant schemes.

Our decision making pages include information about meetings and committees, along with our constitution.

Southampton City Council seeks to continually improve the quality of its services to meet the needs and expectations of all our community. More information can be found on our Council Performance pages.

For the location of council public land and building assets, please see our mapping page.

Further information on council spending is shown below:

Information on our spending

1. Annual Accounts

All councils have to publish a Statement of Accounts covering specified matters. It shows how we have used public money, and that we have been honest and responsible. The Council’s Statement of Accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Accounting code of Practice and can be
found on the page below:

Statement of Accounts reports

2. Expenditure over £500

The reports below list payments to suppliers and credit notes from suppliers with a net value (i.e. excluding VAT) of £500.00 or more. Some payments to individuals have had the supplier name changed to "SUPPLIER NAME REDACTED".

Metadata for Transparency Spend Body:

Body_Name: Southampton City Council
Finance_system: Agresso, Microsoft SQL Server
Purchase_Categorisation: Internal

3. Future contract spending plans

The details shown in the downloadable PDF document below relate to supplies, works and services contracts currently being provided to Southampton City Council which have individual total contract values in excess of £100,000 and are due to expire within the next six to 12 months.

Forthcoming opportunities to supply - April 2013 (PDF)

4. Major council projects

Details of major projects that are currently being or have been undertaken by Southampton City Council and its partners.

September 2012 Capital Programme (PDF)

5. Councillors allowances and expenses

Total amounts paid to councillors and co-optees for each financial year.

Please see Councillors Allowances Page

6. Senior employee salaries

The reports below list information regarding Chief Officers and staff who earn £50k per annum or more.

Chief Officer Pay 2011/12 (Excel)
Chief Officer Pay 2011/12 (PDF)

All Staff over £50K 2011/12 (Excel)
All Staff over £50K 2011/12 (PDF)

7. Total payments made by type of supplier for 2009/10

You can see a summary of the Council’s spending by type of supplier using the Spotlight on Spend website accessed by the link below. This shows our annual spending categorised by type of supplier according to a standard classification scheme. There are further details explaining how the classification scheme works on the Spotlight on Spend website itself. Suppliers with whom there was a total spend of less than £1,000 in the year are excluded from the data.

Please note that as all payments made to each supplier can only be allocated to one category, this categorisation can occasionally produce misleading results, especially for large national or multinational suppliers providing a range of products and services. For example, all the Council’s spend with our Strategic Services Partner, Capita Business Services Ltd, is categorised as “Consultancy” although we are primarily paying them to provide a range of support functions previously provided “in-house” including Customer Services, IT, Property Services, Procurement, HR and Payroll.

Spotlight on Spend - Southampton City Council

Contact information

web.editor@southampton.gov.uk
023 8083 3000
4th Floor, One Guildhall Square, Southampton, SO14 7FP

Transparency

Information on our spending

1. Annual Accounts

2. Expenditure over £500

3. Future contract spending plans

4. Major council projects

5. Councillors allowances and expenses

6. Senior employee salaries

7. Total payments made by type of supplier for 2009/10

8. Pay Policy Statement and pay multiplier

9. Gifts and Hospitality

10. Organisational structure of the Council

11. Council meetings, including the Audit Committee

Related links

Contact information