London and Partners, the capital’s official promotions agency, has published plans for a new transparency policy.
The organisation is highly dependent on public grants to remain viable, with its largest source of income being City Hall and the Mayor, but has historically refused to publish details of how it spends the cash.
Since its inception, managers at L&P have repeatedly declined to answer a series of questions posed by the London Assembly about pay, expenses and performance.
Assembly Members have frequently expressed frustration with the agency’s “secretive” approach.
The deadlock was finally broken last year when AMs used their reserve power to order the agency to hand over thousands of internal documents which are currently being assessed ahead of publication on the Assembly’s website.
Seemingly as a result of the Assembly’s action, L&P has now published draft plans which would finally see it routinely publish full minutes of board meetings, as well as financial information and details of its staff structure, all of which it’s previously refused to provide when asked.
It will also publish details of contract tenders on the Official Journal of the European Union and on the UK Government’s Contracts Finder website, as well as details of all expenditure over £250.
In addition, the draft plans include proposals to publish details of companies helped by L&P’s business support programmes, although this will only apply to companies agreeing to be named.
The consultation can be found on the London and Partners website.
