I noticed a local job advertisement for a Political Assistant to the Labour Party, art time upto £42K + benefits. I see that there is 3 Political Assistants on the organisation chart. These are non statutory posts.
Reviewing the government guidance on the creation of these posts a council is required to carry out a value for money assessment on these posts. I have noted that the Labour Party has only 6 Councillors.

1. My FOI is to request a a copy of WOKINGHAM BC value for money assessment for these posts.
We do not hold this data, the value for money assessment was carried out verbally during a meeting to assure that the post would meet value for money. The assessment takes into account the number of elected Councillors this post will support, the role and responsibility of the role as well as a consideration of equity between political groups and how many days per week each political group should receive in support. This assessment is applied on a case by case basis.

Internal review completed by WBC Legal Services - upheld original decision