CORNWALL COUNCIL has been accused of fostering a culture of secrecy after being ordered to reveal gifts and hospitality enjoyed by its staff.

The list which includes, meals out, boxes of chocolates, wine and a hog's pudding, had been kept out of the public domain. But the authority was forced into a climbdown last week after the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it had to make public the largesse enjoyed by officers.

The council had tried to claim gifts and hospitality given to employees was a private matter, after a request under the Freedom of Information Act from the West Briton.

Despite an internal appeal – which included several examples of other local bodies which had opened their books – this newspaper took the issue to the Government's information watchdog.

Last week it ruled details should be made available for public scrutiny.

Front bench opposition spokesman Councillor Alex Folkes said: "Unfortunately this episode shows we still have a long way to go before the council lives up to its promises of being open and transparent. Of course staff who have done a good job will receive gifts like wine and chocolates and no one would begrudge them that.

Employees

"But they have received them in their capacity as employees of a public authority, not as private individuals.

"And it is to be expected that the council's CEO will be invited to lunches and suppers.

"But why they feel all this should remain hidden from public scrutiny is a worrying issue. This was a legitimate question that should have been answered at the time of the original request but instead it has invoked extra cost that could have been avoided if the authority were as open as the leader tells us it is." The gifts and hospitality accepted were largely inconsequential. Of the 48 invitations received by the authority's chief executive Kevin Lavery, he accepted just 12. They included tickets for an unspecified rugby match and lunch courtesy of the Connaught, two tickets for Cheltenham races provided by DRAX and dinners at Zari Indian restaurant with Deloitte and another with his former employers Serco at Truro's Indaba.

The invitations he rejected included one from the West Briton's editor Richard Best and invites from Balfour Beatty and SkillSoft.

The head of finance accepted a calendar and chocolates.

Property services revealed it had been given diaries, pens and mugs while public health and protection employees declared a pot of Rodda's Cornish clotted cream, hog's pudding from Tregonissey Butchers and a sample of herbs and sweetmeats from Carn Brea Castle Restaurant.