FOI Request - Discretionary or Non-statutory Expenditure

Request 101003974073

1. The three highest individual areas of expenditure that the council classifies as discretionary or non-statutory (i.e. services or spending not required by law), ranked by total annual spend.

2.For each of these three areas, please provide:
a) The name or description of the service/project
b) The total amount spent in that financial year
c) A brief description of what the expenditure relates to

3.P lease provide the total amount spent by the council on alcohol, including:
a) Alcohol purchased for events, functions, or hospitality
b) Alcohol purchased using council funds, expenses, or procurement systems

If possible, please also provide a breakdown of this figure by category (e.g. events, civic hospitality, staff functions).

If the council does not hold a specific category for alcohol expenditure, please provide the closest available information, such as hospitality or event catering costs where alcohol is included.

Response 29-04-2026

1. The Council does not record or classify spend as either statutory or non statutory. While some duties are set out clearly in legislation, many services are delivered under general powers, support statutory functions, or are required by guidance, government expectations, or local democratic decisions. As a result, the Council does not classify or rank its expenditure on this basis.

2. Not applicable

3. The Council does not hold information in the ledger on alcohol related spend specifically. Identifying alcohol expenditure would require contacting all services and teams to review individual transactions and confirm whether alcohol was included. As such this information is exempt under Section 12 of the FOISA - Excessive cost - as it would take more than 40hrs for every service and team to be contacted, verify their purchases and collate any relevant data.