Council plan to publish spending over £500

Published 19 August 2010

Southwark Council will begin publishing all spending on goods and services over £500 in September.

The move comes as the Department for Communities and Local Government publishes details of spending from 2009/10 on its website, and Secretary of State Eric Pickles confirms that he has asked councils to follow suit - though they will not be forced to do so.

Councillor Richard Livingstone, cabinet member for resources, said: "I want to reiterate our commitment to residents that we will spend every penny of taxpayers' money with the care that local families manage their own budgets.

With tough decisions on the horizon we want our processes to be as open and accountable as possible. All councillors agreed to go forward with the plan to publish spending over £500 and I'm happy to report that we are ahead of schedule and set to begin publishing next month."

Motion agreed by Council Assembly in July

Publication of spending on goods and services over £500

Council Assembly notes the cabinet resolution of 15 June 2010 in which it states it will "Open up the budget making process for public scrutiny so we make better decisions."
In light of this commitment to the residents of Southwark, Council Assembly requests the cabinet to bring forward proposals, as requested by the secretary of state for communities and local government to make details of spending on all goods and services over £500 for the public to see and scrutinise.
Council Assembly believes that local people should be able to hold politicians and public bodies to account over how their hard earned cash is being spent, and welcomes these proposals, following the coalition government's own commitment demonstrated by the online publication of the COINS database, and urges the cabinet to follow this example.
Council Assembly notes that by September, councils will be expected to make these details available and should be doing this as a matter of course by the start of next year and request the cabinet to take the appropriate steps to meet this deadline.