Pickles to publish spending

Eric Pickles to publish all his department's spending over £250 in new transparency purge

Eric Pickes MP
PICTURE: Matt Sprake/NEWSPICS

A Whitehall department has started to publish all of its spending over £250 to increase further transparency across Government.

The move will put pressure on all departments to publish more information about how public money is spent by civil servants. The Department for Communities and Local Government has been publishing details of all goods and services spent over £500 matching the level required of councils since August 2010.

However it said it wanted to take “its transparency pledge to a new level by publishing all spend data over £250. This will mean more information on typical items such as travel expenses, publications, office supplies and mobile phone bills for the first time.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles encouraged ‘armchair auditors’ at home to scrutinise his officials' spending and see at a glance exactly where taxpayers money is being spent.

Mr Pickles said: “The transparency revolution is far from over. Whitehall and local government can go further in reducing waste.

“I firmly believe the more open we are about spending the more we can root out waste, avoid duplication and increase value for money for taxpayers. “For thirteen years Labour ministers enjoyed taxpayer funded dinners at the Wolsley and quangos wined and dined each other on the public purse “Every member of the public has a right to know and a right to challenge how their hard earned cash is being spent by government. “Our quest for greater transparency has led us to set a new marker in the sand - from today our books will be open right down to 250 pounds.”

Mr Pickles has already agreed to publish all spending on government credit cards, which has led to changes in spending habits. Earlier this year it emerged that civil servants had swapped swap fine dining for fast food restaurants such as Burger King and McDonald’s after the transparency purge. In 2010/11, officials spent £17.95 at McDonald’s, £23.60 at Nando’s and £11.48 at Burger King on their Government Procurement Cards. None of these restaurants appeared in GPC statements in any of the previous four years, according to a Parliamentary Answer.