Barnet Council publishes spending online

Barnet Council has published details of its spending above £500, as part of its transparency efforts.
Details of payment to suppliers will be listed for the three months April to June 2010 inclusive (and will continue to be published quarterly.

During the financial quarter April to June 2010 Barnet Council paid out £94 million to vendors on a huge variety of items, from adult care homes to utility bills.

For reasons of privacy, payments to individuals including foster carers, children’s and adult carers are not included in the list. Payments made via CHAPS e.g. repayment of loans, funding to schools, housing benefit payments and payments taken directly from the Council’s bank account (excluding agency costs) are not included either.

The information published was pulled together using data from over 1,000 different cost centres, 11 service areas and 1,000 capital projects.

Council Leader, Councillor Lynne Hillan, said: “Publishing our expenditure online is part of a current trend to make all public bodies increasingly accountable.

“I think it’s only fair and reasonable that in the current climate residents are given the opportunity to scrutinise where their council tax is being spent and, ultimately, bring down costs.

“For reasons of speed and economy we have published this information in a pretty raw state. But I'd like to hear from residents about how they think this could be published more clearly.”