What the media says about me...
"Paul Flynn and Gordon Prentice have become this Parliament’s saltiest select committee interrogators. They have been consistent value for money, pulling apart a succession of crooks, con men and blue-sky pseuds."Quentin Letts, Daily Mail, May 2008
| Campaigners congratulate Gordon Prentice MP |
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| Saturday, 08 August 2009 11:41 |
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Campaigners congratulate Gordon Prentice MP for backing new move to engage people in politics and increase transparency re taxpayers money
Local Works, a national coalition of over 100 organisations including 11 other large national organisations today joined together to congratulate Gordon Prentice MP for backing a new Bill to engage people in politics and also backing a call to increase transparency on how public money is spent in our communities. Gordon Prentice MP has signed House of Commons Early Day Motions No 1545 in support of the Sustainable Communities Bill (this Bill extends the Sustainable Communities Act passed in 2007) and No 1064 in support of Local Spending Reports being published to show how taxpayers’ money is spent locally by central and regional government agencies. The Sustainable Communities Act is a radical law that requires the government to help councils protect local services (e.g. Post Offices, shops, pubs, businesses), and then puts those communities and their councils in the driving seat as to how the government must discharge that duty. The new Bill, backed by the MP in EDM 1545, will strengthen that process by The Sustainable Communities Act also requires the government to publish Local Spending Reports. Government Ministers promised (see below) that these would show a local breakdown of how ALL taxpayers money is spent - something that has never been done before. However Whitehall officials have resisted this. EDM 1064 supports the Local Spending Reports being published in full as Ministers have promised. Local Works Campaign Co-ordinator, Steve Shaw, said: Notes for Journalists Contact: Steve Shaw, Local Works Campaign Co-ordinator (w) 020 7278 4443 (m) 07788 646933 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it The Minister’s promises regarding the Local Spending Reports “I say at the outset that the Government are not doing that reluctantly; they want local spending reports.” “The local spending report would cover all public expenditure in each local authority area in so far as it is possible to define it. It could cover both current and future spending.” “The bodies mentioned by the hon. Lady which will have a statutory duty to co-operate include strategic health authorities, but the local spending reports will include all public agencies as defined in proposed subsection (3), not just those covered by that statutory duty. In that sense, the local spending report is much wider than the measures in the local government Bill.” “The purpose is to achieve a report that identifies how much money will be spent in each area by the authorities—local authorities and the other agencies that I have mentioned—and, if they do not spend the money themselves, to identify who does.” “The aim of the task would be to quantify expenditure that can be easily identified as relating to a particular area and to understand the amount of money for which local partners and communities are responsible.” The Local Works Coalition Steering Group ACS - the Association of Convenience Stores Local Works Coalition Members include:
For more information visit the Local Works website - www.localworks.org |