We as a council believe it is important to be open and transparent, with you the residents, in terms of how we spend your money. The publication of this list of spend over £500 demonstrates this commitment, and we welcome your comments on how we might improve on the provision of this information in the future.

For each quarter of the financial year we will publish details of payments to our suppliers for individual amounts greater than £500. This includes amounts paid by council credit card.

The list will include:

• transactions for values greater than £500 to external suppliers
• spend incurred in providing services

It will exclude:

• payments made to staff
• sensitive personal information, such as individual foster carer payments
• any payments which may reveal details about an individual
• internal charges between different parts of the Council

We aim to be as transparent as we can but in some cases we will need to respect information that could be seen as commercially sensitive. Where necessary, and to protect confidentiality, the supplier identity may also be withheld.

We welcome your comments in respect to how we can improve on the presentation and content of this information. If you would like to obtain more information about the type of business conducted with suppliers detailed in the report, or for general enquiries about the content of the report, please email £500@wakefield.gov.uk. We will endeavour to provide a response within seven working days.

We regularly review the way we classify expenditure to ensure information is as meaningful as possible. The headings within the published reports are explained as follows:

Date – the date we have registered the payment within our accounts

Trans No. and Seq No. – internal references to enable us to identify individual transactions

Directorate – the area where the expenditure is incurred

Description of Spend – details the nature of the spend

Type – details whether the expenditure was capital (one off spending on projects and equipment) or revenue (day to day spending)

Supplier name – the name of the supplier or payment recipient that has received the payment