The council that prides itself on its "commitment to transparency" has refused to issue a press release covering details of its £1 million communications contract with a private PR firm.

The team in question is WestCo Trading, set up by Westminster City Council to act as its own press team in 2007. It has since won contracts with twelve local authority's including Harrow, Richmond and Sutton.

Sutton Council first signed a contract with the company in 2008 that ran until 2012 and totalled £2.4m at a basic cost of £600,000 a year.

This was renewed at a reduced basic rate of £450,000 between 2012 and 2014.

Last year the council again agreed to extend the contract for further three years, at a further reduced basic rate, of £398,000 a year, a decrease of 11.5 per cent.

WestCo also received £10,000 for consultation work on the council's garden waste collection scheme.

Pressed by opposition members if the council planned to use its private press specialists to release a press release on its latest contract with the firm, leader of Sutton Council Ruth Dombey said: "I see no reason to put out a press release, I have given out the figures in this forum."

Not only will the figures not appear in a press release but they are also not freely available to find in the council's published accounts because the authority lumps its communications spend under the collective headline "Chief Executive's Office" which covers a range of services under the CEO's directorate.

When asked where the figures were published within council documents, the only mention comes from July's 2014 Strategy and Resources Committee from July 7 that notes on page 212 that "market testing suggests a service could cost between £375k and £425k contract".

When the contract came up for approval in October last year, with a December start date, there is no mention of the cost of the contract. Nor at the time of asking was there any listing of the deal in the council's list of published contracts covering that time period.

This, despite a pledge on its own website that says: "To support our commitment to transparency, involvement and innovation we will work towards making all public data (that is not sensitive or personal) freely available in a variety of formats. We have started by opening up some of our existing datasets."

Coun Dombey told the meeting that WestCo, which also carries out additional communications work for the council on projects where outside funding has been secured such as the green waste or station upgrades projects, "did an excellent job with a skeleton team".

She pointed to the internal communications carried out within the 1,600 strong council, as well as using various methods to deal directly with residents.

She said WestCo's work allows those without access to the internet or the Sutton Guardian to learn about the authority's initiatives.

A spokesperson for Sutton Council said: "The communications budget is contained within the expenditure of the business unit it relates to, in this case the Chief Executive's Office.

"In our published accounts we are required to present our expenditure in a format laid down in national guidelines and our auditors ensure that we meet this requirement as part of their audit.

"The Communications Service Contract has been awarded to WestCo for a period of three years with an option to extend for a further two years. "The annual value of the contract is £398,000, which represents a reduction of 11.5 per cent on the previous annual value."

Deputy leader for the opposition on Sutton Council, Councillor Tony Shields, said: "It's a huge contract and they have also got funding to promote recycling from the DCLG.

"It's a lot of money which nobody will see how its administered.

"It's £1m and its offers next to nothing."

The irony of the council not communicating the cost of its communications budget was not lost on Coun Shields.

He said: "Twenty years ago there was one person in the press department but now we are told we need a team of people costing us more than £1m over three years.

"It's a contract that we would cut out immediately."

A council spokesman rejected this claim pointing out WestCo's role includes many more elements than dealing with the media.

He said: ""The contract is for a whole communications service which includes running major public campaigns to change behaviour and encourage people to shape the future of Sutton.

"They include increasing foster caring, adoption rates and recycling rates, promoting services for children and vulnerable people, improving public health and reducing litter."