SOME of most prominent figures within the list of spending over £500 provide good examples of why the current format of the data is less than ideal, neither for the public or the council.
In the absence of any explanation as to what the invoices relate to the outlay below may appear suspect.
In 2012/13 the council paid £15.7 million to John Laing (Croydon Development Company), the council's partner in its controversial new headquarters project.
Such expenditure is likely to lead to further questions about the council's claim that there will be no cost taxpayer, and while those concerns remain valid, these payments represent the final drawdown on a loan provided by the council to Laing to build Bernard Weatherill House, with a rate or interest higher than it borrows the money at.
The £6.5 million paid to Croydon Council's Urban Regeneration Vehicle relates to the cost to build Waddon's new leisure centre, it added.
It might be little surprising to see that Croydon has paid Kingston Council a total of £11.4 million, though this is mostly connected to the South London Waste Partnership, which covers recycling and waste disposal for the Croydon, Sutton, Merton and Kingston, with payments made to the latter borough and then to contractors.
Other payments to the borough fall under the council's role as a regional coordinator for several grant schemes such as Get Active South London
So far in 2013/14, the most significant piece of expenditure listed in the spreadsheets is £8.1 million paid to legal firm Ashfords.
While the council has an internal legal department, it makes regular use of outside expertise, in this case for conveyancing. It said some £6 million of the money paid to Ashfords relates to the purchase of the General Hospital site in London Road, which will host a new secondary school.
Other significant spending includes:
- £22.4 million to Capgemini, which provides the council's IT and telecommunications infrastructure. The contract, originally signed in 2003, was extended for five-years in 2013 in a deal worth £83 million, making it one of the biggest and longest running in local government.
- £16.5 million for Veolia Environmental Services which is responsible for refuse collection and street cleaning thanks to an 11 year deal signed in 2003
- £8.9 million to Enterprise Mouchel for highways maintenance. The £35 million four year contract was signed in August 2011, but a few months later it emerged that co-owner Mouchel was in £87 million of debt, prompting senior officers to seek assurances from the company
- £3 million to Euro Hotels to provide emergency accommodation for homeless families. Standards at one of its hotels were criticised following an investigation by the BBC
- £212,238 to Southern. The council operates a loans scheme that enables staff to purchase their annual season tickets. The money is recovered by deductions from employees' pay
- £30,057 paid to Selsdon Park Hotel & Golf Club which is used by the school improvement service for courses for teachers. The council says the costs are fully recovered from schools. The venue is also used for a termly conference for head teachers, Healthy Schools award sessions, and several other conferences, one of which required overnight stay for a speaker
