Openness and Transparency
The UK government has begun to publish details showing how public money is spent - with the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) leading the way.
The new commitment is to disclose a list of all expenditure on goods and services above £500.
The DCLG material reveals that the government offices for the regions - ran up bills of more than £100,000 on market research and polling last year.
Bob Neill, the local government minister, said: ""Splashing out six-figure sums on pollsters appears to be another one of Labour's vanity projects. It's unforgivable that a culture of excess was allowed to flourish for so long."
The 1,900 items of expenditure disclosed by the communities department for 2009/10 total £314 million - including a £16m bill for marketing, advertising, promotion and events - while £635,000 went on taxis and chauffeur-driven cars - plus £310,000 on catering and food.
Now politicians - being politicians - like to turn this information to their advantage - by pointing the finger at their opponents.
But the principle of openness and transparency is clearly a good thing - we could do with the same approach to local government spending in Scotland.
The new commitment is to disclose a list of all expenditure on goods and services above £500.
The DCLG material reveals that the government offices for the regions - ran up bills of more than £100,000 on market research and polling last year.
Bob Neill, the local government minister, said: ""Splashing out six-figure sums on pollsters appears to be another one of Labour's vanity projects. It's unforgivable that a culture of excess was allowed to flourish for so long."
The 1,900 items of expenditure disclosed by the communities department for 2009/10 total £314 million - including a £16m bill for marketing, advertising, promotion and events - while £635,000 went on taxis and chauffeur-driven cars - plus £310,000 on catering and food.
Now politicians - being politicians - like to turn this information to their advantage - by pointing the finger at their opponents.
But the principle of openness and transparency is clearly a good thing - we could do with the same approach to local government spending in Scotland.
