35. Related parties - Notes to the core accounting statements

The Authority is required to disclose material transactions with related parties, which are bodies or individuals that have the potential to control or influence the Authority or to be controlled or influenced by the Authority. Disclosure of these transactions allows readers to assess the extent to which the Authority might have been constrained in its ability to operate independently or might have secured the ability to limit another party's ability to bargain freely with the Authority.

Central Government

Central government has significant influence over the general operations of the Authority. It is responsible for providing the statutory framework within which the Authority operates, provides the majority of its funding in the form of grants and prescribes the terms of many of the transactions that the Authority has with other parties (e.g. council tax bills). Grants received from government departments are set out in the analysis in Note 34 and Note 14.

Members

Members of the Authority have direct control over the Authority's financial and operating policies. Details of members' allowances and expenses are shown in Note 31.

Officers

Some senior employees have significant influence over the Authority’s activities. Details of senior officers’ remuneration are shown in Note 32.

Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council

The Authority is made up of 12 members from Nottinghamshire County Council and 6 members from Nottingham City Council, and so a related party relationship exists between the Authority and these Councils by way of common control. Significant transactions are detailed below, and include expenditure on cleaning and maintenance services and income from partnership working. The Police and Crime Commissioner attends the Combined Fire Authority meetings in a non voting capacity.

Other public bodies

Some members of the Authority are also members of other local Borough or District Councils in Nottinghamshire. Other public bodies such as Fire Authorities are subject to varying degrees of common control or significant influence by central government. The Authority carries out transactions with such bodies from time to time, including income and expenditure from the provision of goods or services, partnership working and pooled budgets, including transactions at other than commercial value. Note that council tax receipts from collecting authorities and transactions with tax authorities are considered to be agency arrangements, and do not qualify as related party relationships.

Entities Controlled or Significantly Influenced by the Authority

The Authority was the sole shareholder of Nottinghamshire Fire Safety Limited, with 5 members forming the Board of Directors. The Authority recovered costs incurred in the provision of certain goods and services to the Company including finance, payroll, human resources, insurance and transport. The Company was the Authority’s provider of fire extinguisher maintenance services.

The Authority’s transactions and balances with the Company are detailed below for the period that the Authority still retained an interest in the Company. The Authorities share in the Company was sold in August 2020.

Other than the items detailed above, there were no members or officers with significant influence over the authority who had an interest in an organisation with which the Authority carried out significant transactions or held significant balances.