South Ribble BC becomes 100th council to put spending data online

South Ribble Borough Council has become the 100th local authority to put its spending data over £500 online, the Department for Communities and Local Government has announced.

The announcement was made last Friday when central government departments started putting details of all spend over £25,000 online.

Communities and Local Government Minister Baroness Hanham said: "We are entering a new era of openness and transparency where all parts of government are making information readily available to the public.

"So it is great to see that one hundred councils have now put their spending over £500 online. With just six weeks till the New Year I urge those that have not done so, to catch up with their peers as soon as possible.”

Critics have suggested that the government’s initiative is putting an additional burden on local authorities.

The leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Cllr Keith Mitchell, told the BBC that he feared an extra two staff would be need to answer queries on the local authority’s listings.

However, Baroness Hanham insisted that “we are already seeing how useful public data can be in everyday life, from moving home to choosing schools. The public have a right to see what their tax money is doing."

She cited a number of projects as examples of what could be done with the information, including:

• Openly Local: which provides information about a local council on a single page, from spending details and meeting documents to elected councillors to local demographics.
• Pick My House: which gives users information on the local area – such as local crime levels, schooling options, buses etc. – if they are considering buying a house.
• ASBOrometer: a mobile phone app that measures levels of anti-social behaviour at a user’s current location in England or Wales and shows key local statistics.