BLACKBURN with Darwen council bosses have come under fire for refusing to release a report into their £215million partnership with a private company.

A Freedom of Information Act request made by the Lancashire Telegraph in April to see the ‘five year review’ of the council’s 12-year contract with Capita has been rejected.

The contract, signed in 2001, means Capita runs a number of services for the council under a public-private partnership.

Critics say the refusal to release the report is not justified and a councillor has pledged to investigate.

Lib Dem Simon Huggill said: “I am never happy when we don’t release information that is asked of us.

“My own attitude is that there must be an overwhelming case that stops the release of information. It can’t just be inconvenient or embarrassing.

“With this particular item I want to establish reasons given are still applicable because it does not look transparent, particularly as these issues are supposed to have been addressed.”

After the review was formally completed in August 2006, a series of key recommendations were made, and some services, including the £2.4million-a-year ICT contract, were transferred back to the council.

A subsequent study said “little formal progress” had been made on addressing the issues raised, and revealed the council could not demonstrate whether the arrangement provided value for money for taxpayers.

In its response to our request the council said the report had been discussed in the confidential part of a council meeting and thus was exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. It apologised for the three-month delay in responding.

Coun Mike Lee, executive member for resources, said: “If it’s commercially confidential I could understand it not being released but I would need to look at the reasons why.”

He added: “People forget we do get a good deal from the Capita contract. It needed some tweaking at the five-year review but there are benchmarks to ensure they are giving us a fair deal.”