IN FUTURE Freedom of Information (FOI) requests asking for the identity of councillors who claim care cost expenses could be denied by Powys County Council (PCC).

This was a response to a question raised at the Democratic Services Committee as they discussed claiming the expense of care costs for children or elderly relatives.

Head of Democratic Services, Wyn Richards, believes a change in how PCC makes the information public by revealing the total cost but not the names, should be discussed at a meeting of the full council.

For the last year, county and town/community councillors have been able to claim a maximum of £403 a month for the care cost of children or dependant adults , while the member attends to council business.

The move was suggested and brought into force by the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW) to ensure that carers could also work as councillors.

At the committee meeting, Mr Richards, said that revealing who claimed the allowance had led to criticism.

The IRPW have given local authorities two options when publishing the expense.

The first is the amount claimed by a councillor.

And the second, is to publish the total figure claimed for the year and number of councillors but no specific identity.

Mr Richards said: “We currently go with option one, but there has been a lot of disquiet going on elsewhere in Wales.

“Some members are getting comments – why are you claiming this?

“And there is a discussion going on whether this puts people off claiming what they are entitled to receive. It’s there for a purpose and to help people do their jobs as a councillor.”

“Based on  what I’m being told from across Wales a number are moving to option two – which is the total.”

Cllr David Price (Independent – Llanafan Fawr), said: “What’s being said is sensible. But should an individual come forward and say, I wish under an FOI request to discover… then could they?”

Mr Richards replied: “It’s a good question, my view on that would be, because of data issues that could identify dependants, we would probably refuse the request, but would give the global total.”

PCC solicitor, Clive Pinney, said: “What we will be saying is this is the total claimed by X number of members.”

“For a dependant not in the public domain there will be a data protection issue.”

Committee chairman, Cllr Mathew Dorrance  (Labour – Brecon St John), said: “It’s an important part of how we make the council an attractive career path.

“We all know about the MPs’ expenses scandals and the public are acutely aware of what politicians can and can’t claim.”

The committee said they would back Mr Richards’ recommendations.

“It is expected that a further discussion of the issue will take place at a Full Council meeting in May.”