• Local Transparency

    The government has pledged greater transparency across the public sector through publishing data to strengthen accountability to citizens. The Department for Communities and Local Government published in September 2011, the Code of recommended practice for local authorities on transparency. The Code commits local authorities to publish data on:

    • Expenditure over £500
    • Senior Salaries over £58,200
    • Organisational Charts and Pay Multiple
    • Councillors allowances an expenditure
    • Copies of contracts and tenders
    • Grants to the voluntary community and social enterprise sector
    • Policies, performance, external audits and key inspections and key indicators on the authorities’ fiscal and financial position
    • The location of public land and building assets
    • Data of democratic running of the local authority

    In early 2011, the Local Government Association in collaboration with the Local Public Data Panel and other organisations published a set of guides on spending; senior salaries and new contracts and tenders to offer practical help to meet both immediate targets of publishing data, and to adopt approaches that will add most value for local people and public services over the longer term. The guides will be gradually reviewed and updated to bring them in line with the code of recommended practice.

    Many authorities already publish considerable amounts of data. The challenge now is to be systematic about this, and to adopt some basic digital approaches in making data public, to maximise everyone ability to benefit.

    This is a rapidly evolving and innovative agenda, so the guides are not static, mandatory requirements but rather they are live documents that are open for you to comment on and offer the benefits of your experience.

    Further information about local transparency is available from http://www.local.gov.uk/local-transparency1

  • Publishing local spending data guide

    The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government wrote to local authorities in June 2010 asking them to publish items of spending over £500 and tenders, contracts and actual payments by January 2011. This guide offers practical help to publish spending data over £ 500, but also to suggest approaches that will add most value for local people and public services over the longer term to make the data comparable. The guide also includes information about linkable and linked data.

    Read & comment on the Spending Guide

    Download the Spending Guide (PDF)

  • Publishing senior salaries guide

    Under Transparency, Government pledges for public bodies to publish online the job titles of every member of staff and the salaries and expenses of senior officials paid more than the lowest salary permissible in Pay Band 1 of the Senior Civil Service pay scale, and organograms that include all positions in those bodies.

    In line with this commitment, local authorities are expected to publish data on their senior management staff by January 2011. This guide offers practical help to publish the salaries paid to members of the organisation’s senior management and their responsibilities.

    Read & comment on the Senior Salaries Guide

    Download the Senior Salaries Guide (PDF)

  • Publishing new contracts & tenders guide

    Following work on spend and salaries, the Local Government Group and key partners now offer a practitioners guide on publishing new contracts and tenders information as required through the government’s transparency agenda.

    The guide suggests a practical approach to opening up data on new contracts using current procurement infrastructure and linking this to published spend data.

    Read & comment on the New Contracts & Tenders Guide

    Download the New Contracts & Tenders Guide (PDF)

  • Practitioners Guide to publicising spending data

    Practitioners Guide to Publicising Local Spending Data on Local Directgov (PDF, 778kb)