The Local Authority Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2014

Notice of public right to inspect and object to accounts

9.—(1) A local authority must give public notice of the right of interested persons to inspect and object to its accounts, as provided for by section 101 (rights of interested persons to inspect and copy documents and to object to accounts)(1) of the 1973 Act.

(2) In the application of this regulation, in any year in which a date referred to is not a working day, that date is to be read as the date of the next working day.

(3) The notice referred to in paragraph (1) must—

(a) be given in accordance with section 195 (public notices) of the 1973 Act no later than 17th June immediately following the financial year to which the accounts relate;

(b) be published on a website of the authority; and

(c) not be removed from that website during the period throughout which the right to inspect subsists, as described in paragraph (4)(a).

(4) The notice referred to in paragraph (1) must set out the provisions of section 101(1) and (2) of the 1973 Act and state—

(a) that the accounts and other documents referred to in section 101(1) of the 1973 Act will be available for inspection during the ordinary business hours of the local authority for a period of 15 working days from (and including) the date specified in the notice in accordance with paragraph (5);

(b) the place or places at which those accounts and other documents will be available and the hours during which they will be available there;

(c) that no charge will be made for inspection of documents or for copying of them by persons who are inspecting them, with details of any charges that the local authority proposes to make should a person inspecting them wish to be provided with copies;

(d) the name and address of the auditor; and

(e) that objections to the accounts may be sent to the auditor at that address until the end of the working day that follows the period described in sub-paragraph (a).

(5) The date specified in the notice in terms of paragraph (4)(a) must be at least 14 days after the date that notice is published, but cannot be later than 1st July in the year in which the notice is published.

(1)

Section 101 is amended by section 10(1) of the Rating and Valuation (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 1984 (c.31) and paragraph 3(8) of schedule 4 to the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 (asp 1).