Transparency of the GLA Group

This report commends the Mayor for increasing the amount of information made public by the Greater London Authority (GLA) Group but calls for a more open and consistent approach across all its organisations; Transport for London (TfL), Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), Metropolitan Police Service, London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority, London Legacy Development Corporation and the GLA itself.

The report identifies the need for a change of culture across the GLA Group, shifting from a presumption that minimal levels of information will be released to meet legal requirements to one where as much information as possible is published at the earliest opportunity.

In particular the report rejects the routine use of claimed ‘commercial confidentiality’ as a reason to limit the release of information to the public about contracts being paid for by the public.

Recommendations from the review include:

Publication of a register of all GLA Group contracts with links to the contract itself

Routine inclusion of transparency clauses in all contracts signed by the GLA Group

Publication of the maximum amount of information about decisions made by the GLA Group giving clear reasons why any information is kept private

Establish standards for the timeliness and quality of information provided by the GLA Group to the London Assembly, its committees and individual Assembly Members.

In conducting this review GLA Group bodies were asked to submit responses to a questionaire, the responses are published below.

The Mayor has accepted all the recommendations contained in the report on behalf of the GLA Group and Transport for London has provided a specific response accepting the recommendations, see letter and responses to recommendations below.

UPDATE

In May 2014, following the publication of this report and many years of requests from the Budget & Performance Committee, the Mayor released the briefings he recieves from Transport for London prior to setting public transport fares. The briefings published here do not yet include 2011as GLA officers have been unable to find it. The Mayor has confirmed to the Assembly that future TfL advice on transport fares will be published when a decision on changes to fares is made.

TfL fares briefings 2008-13