Transparency Information
The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 (the Code) came into effect on 1st April 2015.
The Code requires local authorities in England to publish the following information quarterly:
- Expenditure Exceeding £500
- Government Procurement Card transactions
- Procurement information
Additionally, local authorities are required to publish the following information annually:
- Local Authority Land
- Social Housing Assets
- Grants to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations
- Organisational Chart
- Senior salaries
- Trade union facility time
- Parking account
- Parking spaces
- Constitution
- Pay multiple
- Fraud
Harrogate Town Council meets the definition of a local authority covered by the requirements of the Code, as it is defined as ‘a parish council which has gross annual income or expenditure (whichever is higher) exceeding £200,000’.
We try to exceed the requirements of the Code by publishing as much as possible on our website, but you can find the information specified in the Code on this page.
Constitution
Local authorities are already required to make their constitution documents available for inspection at their offices under section 9P of the Local Government Act 2000. Local authorities must also, under the Code, publish their constitution on their website.
Harrogate Town Council’s constitution is made up of the Standing Orders, Financial Regulations and Code of Conduct.
Expenditure exceeding £500
We publish the details of all our spending in the minutes of the meetings of Finance & General Purposes Committees where you can see who we paid and what for.
Our spending on items over £500 is detailed below.
Q1 2025/26 – Spending over £500
Q2 2025/26 – Spending over £500
Q3 2025/26 – Spending over £500
Q4 2025/26 – Spending over £500
Q1 2026/27 – Spending over £500
Government Procurement Card Transactions
The Code requires that local authorities must publish details of every transaction on a Government Procurement Card.
Harrogate Town Council does not use a Government Procurement Card and therefore has no information to publish.
Procurement Information
Our Financial Regulations detail how we approach obtaining best value when obtaining goods and services.
The Code requires that local authorities must also publish details of any contract, commissioned activity, purchase order, framework agreement and any other legally enforceable agreement with a value that exceeds £5,000.
Information about any current tendering opportunities can be found on our News & Notices page and, where they exceed £5,000, on the Government’s Find a Tender service.
Local Authority Land
The Code requires that local authorities must publish details of all land and building assets.
Harrogate Town Council does not yet own any land or buildings and therefore has no information to publish.
Social Housing Asset Value
The Code requires that local authorities must publish details of the value of social housing stock that is held in their housing revenue account. Harrogate Town Council does not hold any social housing stock and therefore has no information to publish.
Grants to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.
The Code requires that local authorities must publish details of all grants to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations. Information about grants awarded is added here as they are made.
Organisation Chart
The Code requires that local authorities must publish details of the staff structure for the top three levels of the organisation. Harrogate Town Council currently has two tiers of staff structure which are shown in this infographic.
Senior Employees
The Code requires local authorities to publish details of any senior employee salaries, job title and responsibilities for those earning over £50,000 per annum.
The Town Clerk’s salary sits within the pay bracket of £60,000 to £65,000 per annum.
Harrogate Town Council does not pay bonuses or benefits in kind to employees.
The Town Clerk is the senior officer of the Town Council and acts as both its principal advisor and manager. The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on administration, ensuring that the Council operates lawfully, effectively and in the best interests of the community.
Key responsibilities include:
- Strategic leadership of the Town Council, working with Members, staff, partners and other tiers of local government to develop a clear vision and long-term aims for the town and the Council.
- Management of services and performance, ensuring that agreed targets are achieved and that the Council contributes to the delivery of its corporate priorities.
- Financial stewardship, including responsibility for bookkeeping, monitoring of all revenue and capital budgets, supporting budget preparation, and ensuring the Council achieves its financial objectives.
- Management of contracts and procurement, overseeing the letting of contracts and tenders to achieve best value for the community.
- Allotments Officer duties, administering the day-to-day management of allotment sites, tenancy agreements and liaison with allotment holders.
- Governance and meetings, preparing agendas and reports, servicing Council and committee meetings, recording decisions and ensuring compliance with statutory requirements.
- Advisory role, providing guidance to the Mayor and Town Councillors on civic protocol, statutory powers and wider public affairs.
- Civic and ceremonial functions, overseeing arrangements for civic events, supporting the Mayor in their duties, and where appropriate representing the Council at community occasions.
- Partnership working, leading engagement with key stakeholders to ensure delivery of shared objectives and agreed projects.
The Town Clerk is also the Responsible Financial Officer (RFO), accountable for the proper administration of the Council’s finances and compliance with relevant legislation and audit requirements.
Trade Union Facility Time
The Code requires that local authorities must publish information on trade union facility time, such as the total number of staff who are union representatives or time spent on union duties.
Harrogate Town Council does not have any staff member who represents a union or devotes any time to union duties. Therefore, the Council has no information to publish.
Pay Multiple
The Code requires that local authorities publish the pay multiple on their website, defined as the ratio between the highest paid taxable earnings for the given year (including base salary, variable pay, bonuses, allowances and the cash value of any benefits-in-kind) and the median earnings figure of the whole of the authority’s workforce.
The pay multiple is calculated using the FTE salaries of permanent employees only. Employees engaged on a casual, variable-hours or part-time basis are included only where they hold a permanent post, in which case their salary is converted to an FTE basis for comparison.
Harrogate Town Council’s pay multiple as of 16th April 2026 is 2.14:1.
Fraud
The code requires local authorities to publish information about their counter fraud work.
Harrogate Town Council has no staff members undertaking fraud investigation work and therefore has no information to publish.
Parking Spaces
The Code requires local authorities to publish the number of marked out controlled on and off-street parking spaces within their area, or an estimate of the number of spaces where controlled parking spaces are not marked out in individual parking bays or spaces.
Harrogate Town Council does not have any parking spaces and therefore has no information to publish.
Parking Account
The Code requires that local authorities must publish information about the breakdown of income and expenditure on the authority’s parking account, including details of revenue collected form on-street parking, off-street parking and Penalty Charge Notices, together with a breakdown of how the authority has spent a surplus on its parking account.
Harrogate Town Council does not have a parking account, therefore, the Council has no information to publish.