Openness and transparency
The Mayor is determined that the GLA leads the way in openness and transparency.
Our commitment to openness and transparency means that we:
- help Londoners hold us to account by publishing information on how we operate and perform
- ensure our decision making processes and governance arrangements are accessible
- free the data we hold – and encourage others holding data on London to do the same – to encourage analysis, understanding and innovation
- listen to Londoners to understand what information you would like us to release
- respond to requests for information quickly and comprehensively
- meet Government expectations, but also to seek out opportunities to enhance transparency further and to remain at the forefront of local government transparency.
Our guiding principle, underpinning our approach to transparency, is that all information should be accessible.
However, an exception would need to be made if:
- one or more of the exemptions set out in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA) or Environment Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) applied or
- publication would be prohibitively costly.
Local government legislation
As a local government authority, we also comply with the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 (LGA) and the Audit Commission Act 1998 (ACA).
The LGA requires Assembly meetings, associated reports and background information to be open to the public (although some information is exempt). The ACA requires our accounts and related documents to be available for inspection and copying for 20 working days on or after a date specified by the auditor.
We also seek to comply with the Local Government Transparency Code, published by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
What we publish and where
A central plank of our approach to openness and transparency is that we make information about us easy to find. As well as making information available right across our website, our publication scheme provides easy access to core transparency information, covering areas like spending, senior staff salaries and contracts.
We also publish all of our FoI responses on our Disclosure log.