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Reporting to the people
Communication with the public is a major part of any council’s
activities. Some forms of consultation are required: for example, notifying
council meetings, or issuing a statutory plan for consultation. Others
are discretionary: for example, a council-funded newsletter, a
media release explaining a recent decision, or a pamphlet about disposal
of household waste. The best practices in local government reporting
help keep the governors and the governed in touch with each other.
The Local Government Act 2002 sets out the ways that local government must
consult and report, giving citizens extra opportunities to check their councils.
These reports need to be factual and explanatory. Information must be:
- accurate — no claim or statement should be made that cannot be substantiated
- complete — it contains all the information necessary for the audience to make a full and proper assessment of the subject matter
- fairly expressed — information is presented in an objective, unbiased, and equitable way. In particular, the audience should always be able to distinguish facts from analysis, comment, or opinion
- politically neutral — it presents the council’s collective position, or, where there is no collective position, sets out the issues in a manner that does not refer to the positions taken by any individual or group.
A range of reports
Here are some of the decisions and activities councils need to report:
- LTCCP — the previous pages on local authority planning outline how councils use the LTCCP to achieve their goals and objectives. The LTCCP is put together with the aid of extensive consultation with the community. Once it is finalised, copies must be made available to anyone who wants to see it. In addition, members of the community are entitled to a reason for decisions made.
- Annual and half-yearly reports — likewise, the annual and half-yearly reports must be made available. Annual reports are independently audited, ensuring that the reporting and consultative requirements of LGA 2002 are followed. The results of these audits are presented to central government and are made available to the public.
- Council decisions — all decisions made by the council should be made available to the community. This may simply be in the form of meeting minutes being made accessible on its website or at the council offices, or it may be an article in the council newsletter or a media release explaining certain decisions. The community are entitled to receive a reason for decisions made by the council.
- Statements of intent — most council-controlled organisations need to produce an annual ‘statement of intent’. The content of the SOI is determined by statute, and contains the objectives of the company, the nature and scope of activities to be undertaken, accounting policies, performance targets, distributions, information to be provided to shareholders, procedures to be followed in respect of investments, estimate of the commercial value of the shareholders’ investment, and various other matters. Council-controlled organisations have to face performance monitoring and produce half-yearly reports and annual reports. This is primarily for the benefit of the council but is also made available to the public.
A range of reports from councils
Who checks the reports?
The Audit Office has a local government unit, and produces periodic reports
on local government in general, and occasionally on issues of significance.
See, for example, Local Government Results of the 2001-02 Audits, or audits
from other years, presented to the Speaker of the House of Representatives
as required by the Public Audit Act 2001.
The purposes of such reports include:
- identifying areas appropriate for legislative or other clarification or amendment
- describing examples of expectations of best practice on financial
management and reporting, governance and administration.
Checks and Balances has more on the Auditor-General.
The Local Government Commission reports from time to time to the Minister for Local Government on matters relating to local government.
The section on Local Governance has more on the Local Government Commission.
www.oag.govt.nz
www.lgn.govt.na
www.dia.govt.nz
www.lgnz.govt.nz
