Pickles warns councils over data deadline
The Communities Secretary has handed local authorities "a week’s notice" to publish online all their spending data over £500.
However, it appears that Eric Pickles has no formal sanctions at his disposal if a council fails or refuses to comply by 31 January.
The Communities Secretary announced in June 2010 that he would expect councils to open their books by the end of this month, allowing so-called “armchair auditors” to analyse their decisions.
So far 210 councils have put information online, but almost 150 have not.
The Department for Communities and Local Government is to publish a code of practice shortly, but only in draft. There will then be a consultation addressing issues such as the scope, formatting and timing of the duty to publish the relevant data.
The information councils are expected to publish includes details of senior pay, councillor expenses, tenders and contracts, meetings, and frontline service data.
The DCLG has published its own data, going further than other central government departments.
Eric Pickles said: "I've called for every council to become more open and accountable about every aspect of their work, starting with getting all expenditure over £500 online by the end of this month. Transparency can help save money in tough times protecting frontline services, by cutting waste and unnecessary costs.
"The final countdown for councils has begun. In the last six months more than half of all councils have got their house in order. Today I'm putting those councils still to open up on one week's notice.
"The public have a right to know how their tax pounds are spent, and those yet to deliver are running out of excuses and time before they have to face their electorate – I hope every council chooses to do so openly, transparently and democratically."
On the question of sanctions available to the Communities Secretary in the event of councils' non-compliance, a DCLG spokeswoman said: "It would be a brave council that was prepared to explain to their local residents that they were not going to show them where their money is being spent. More formally, if needed we could make the code of practice binding to allow legal action to be taken against those failing to comply."
Bradford Council is among the local authorities that are set to miss the deadline.
Its Leader, Cllr Ian Greenwood, recently told The Telegraph and Argus that – before publication – the council was in the process of removing commercially sensitive information so that local suppliers were not undercut by firms elsewhere.
“I’m prepared to suffer the political embarrassment of defying the order to publish the bills to protect the interests of Bradford businesses,” he told the paper.
