Wandsworth Council has admitted it kept no records from meetings that informed major changes to how the borough is governed, according to a Freedom of Information response received by Putney.news.
The council’s FOI response states “no information held” for minutes, recordings, attendance lists, or member views from two Task and Finish Group meetings that took place in December 2024 and January 2025. According to the council itself, these meetings helped decide fundamental changes to how billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money are spent.
Those changes have come under increasing scrutiny in recent months after they were found to undermine decision-making, rather than assist it, and silence councillors, rather than give them – and residents – more of a voice.
A council paper presented to the Executive in March 2025 claimed “the deliberations of the Task and Finish Group…informed and contributed to the development of the proposals.”
Those proposals restructured the council’s scrutiny system in March 2025, replacing six committees with a single General Overview and Scrutiny Committee controlled by Labour’s three-to-two majority.
What the FOI revealed
The FOI request, filed on 12 December 2025, asked for minutes, recordings, attendance records, and any recommendations produced by the Task and Finish Group that reviewed the council’s constitution.
The council’s response, received on 4 February 2026, states simply: “No information held.”
This applies to all requested documentation from both Task and Finish Group meetings held on 18 December 2024 and 28 January 2025 – the only two official meetings before the changes went to the Executive for approval on 3 March 2025.
What we did receive, in response to an earlier FOI request, was one meeting’s agenda (not the other’s), a summary of how different councils provide “call in” powers – where big decisions can be properly scrutinised – and two reports amounting to five pages in total on financial thresholds and call-in powers. The council claims these are the only papers available for a group that was set up to design an entire overhaul of its governance processes.
Putney.news will file an internal review next week citing a Section 10 breach and requesting confirmation of what documentation, if any, exists.
The contradiction
Council Paper 25-104, presented to the Executive on 3 March 2025, explicitly stated that “the deliberations of the Task and Finish Group and the General Purposes Committee has informed and contributed to the development of the proposals in this report.”
At the General Purposes Committee meeting on 4 February 2025 – one month before the Executive vote – opposition councillors made clear no such consensus existed.
Conservative Councillor Peter Graham, a member of the Task and Finish Group, told the committee: “We have had two online meetings of the task and finish group. We haven’t agreed any recommendations.”
Councillor Matt Corner added there was “no real record of output” from the group’s work.
The Executive approved the changes in 24 seconds with no questions or debate. Two days later, Full Council voted them through on party lines.
Nine months of failures documented
Our investigation in December revealed how every promise made to justify the reforms has been broken.
At the first test of the new system in November, the headteacher of Bradstow School travelled from Kent to defend her school serving children with complex autism. She was given three minutes to speak. When councillors asked if she could answer questions, the chair ruled it “way outside the remit.” Labour councillors voted 3-2 to prevent questions. Eight opposition concerns were rejected on party lines.
Independent councillors discovered in December they had been silenced entirely – unable to raise ward issues because the new standing orders require motions to come via “group whips” and single-member representatives cannot form groups.
At the full council meeting last week, the leader of the opposition pointedly accused the administration of interpreting the new standing orders against their plain text. ‘We might as well stand on our heads the entire evening,’ Councillor Graham said, before being overruled.
Council Leader Simon Hogg who was in charge and pushed through the changes instead describes the system as “working well.”
Our FOI response now confirms what opposition members stated in February 2025: the consultation that supposedly informed these changes never actually occurred in any documented form.
How other councils document reviews
Best practice for constitutional changes requires proper documentation. The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny, which Wandsworth paid approximately £29,000 for advice, recommends that changes should be considered by a working group, then go to a formal council committee like audit or general purposes, before final approval at council.
That process requires written records – meeting minutes, recommendations, evidence considered, decisions made. Without documentation, there is no way to verify whether deliberations occurred, what was discussed, or whether the changes reflected genuine consensus.
The Local Government Act 1972 Section 100D requires that background papers used in preparing reports must be made available for public inspection. Paper 25-36, presented to the General Purposes Committee on 4 February 2025, explicitly lists Task and Finish Group documentation as “background papers.”
If no records exist, the council has no background papers to make available. If records do exist but were not disclosed, the FOI response is incomplete.
What residents can do
Residents concerned about Wandsworth Council transparency have several options:
Follow our investigation: At Putney.news, we believe this issue to be so fundamental to how our council is run and our taxes are spent that we will remain focused on it and keep digging into its multiple flaws. You can support that effort by following us and making others aware.
Contact councillors: Ward councillors can raise issues on behalf of residents. Contact details are available through the council website.
Use FOI yourself: Any resident can submit Freedom of Information requests to Wandsworth Council via foi@wandsworth.gov.uk or through WhatDoTheyKnow.com for public tracking.
What happens next
The internal review will test whether the council’s “no information held” response is accurate. Three outcomes are possible:
- Full disclosure would reveal what actually occurred in those meetings that supposedly informed the changes.
- No records existing would confirm the council kept no documentation from meetings used to justify major constitutional reforms.
- Refusal would raise further transparency concerns.
Whatever the outcome, the pattern is clear: a council paper claimed deliberations “informed” proposals, but when asked for the records of those deliberations, the council states none exist.
Both cannot be true.
Accountability Statement
We contacted: Wandsworth Council communications team.
Request sent: 4 February 2026
Press Office
Wandsworth Council
Status: No response received.
Questions asked (click to expand)
Can the council explain how deliberations “informed and contributed to” proposals (Paper 25-104) if no records exist of those deliberations?
Does the council accept there is a contradiction between Paper 25-104’s claims and the FOI response stating “no information held”?
Will the council review its processes for documenting constitutional changes?
