What have you done in the past year?

That’s the question that will be put to Prospect Leicestershire chairman Nick Carter (below left) by the county council’s scrutiny panel on Wednesday.

The former Mercury editor will sit alongside Prospect chief executive David Hughes to outline the publicly-funded organisation’s plans for the future.

At a time of savage cuts to public spending, the question of whether it will duplicate the work of the new Local Enterprise Partnerships will surely arise.

But one issue I’d really like to see brought up is the issue of openness.

Despite being bankrolled by taxpayer cash (with a staff budget of £1 million) Prospect is keen to point out on its website that it is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

But, the website assures us, Prospect Leicestershire:

“…wishes to operate in a spirit of openness, and will be pleased to respond to information requests under our own Publication Scheme.”

So I lodged a ‘Spirit of Openness’ request on January 31 this year, asking for copies of executive credit card statements for the most recently available 12 month period.

More than five months on, I’m still waiting…

6PM UPDATE: Nick has been in touch to say the request will be chased up.