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Mole Valley District Council Among the
First Five Councils in the Country to Deploy spotlightonspend for
Greater Transparency on Public Spending
spotlightonspend enables Council to publish and compare spend
data over £500 against standardised metrics in line with ‘Programme
for Government’ requirements
Newbury, Berkshire – 15 July 2010 – Mole Valley
District Council has deployed spotlightonspend,
an online transparency platform, designed to radically improve the
accessibility, relevance and value of Government spend information
to the general public.
The Council is among the first five in the country to publish
all spending over £500 online as part of the new 'Programme for
Government' requirements on public spending and transparency, which
comes into effect in January 2011.
spotlightonspend is a web-based platform providing an easy and
intuitive way for councils to publish information on overall spend
on goods and services being purchased above £500 or £25,000 for
Central Government, and in addition, information on which private
sector companies are doing the supplying. Published spend
information can be compared against useful standardised metrics,
making comparisons possible between authorities of differing sizes.
Metrics include: per full time employee, spend with small and
medium sized enterprises (SMEs), spend relative to the number of
households, working population, persons of pensionable age and
number of children that make up the resident population.
Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local
Government, said, "I'm really excited about the opportunities of
transparency and it's something this government is utterly
committed to. spotlightonspend demonstrates that, when innovative
businesses work with far-sighted public bodies, we can inform the
public, reduce costs and improve democracy both locally and
nationally."
Mole Valley District Council's financial data will be available
to search and view via its website, www.molevalley.gov.uk under
‘Spotlight on Spend’. It will contain information on how much
the Council pays for services to its residents such as street
cleaning, refuse collection, playgrounds and leisure.
Luke Spikes, CEO of Spikes Cavell & Co, commented, "We are
thrilled that Mole Valley District Council is deploying
'spotlightonspend' as part of its ongoing effort to deliver
visibility of its spending on goods and services that is
meaningful, relevant, and of value to its residents and local
businesses. Encouraging residents to become involved will
unquestionably result in improved local services and better value
for money."
spotlightonspend enables standardisation and a consistent method
of classifying spend making it possible to compare a public bodies’
spend to either the average level for that public body type or
another public body, facilitating a deeper level of transparency.
spotlightonspend allocates suppliers and their associated spend
into clearly labelled categories, with easily recognisable terms
for goods and services, such as ‘building supplies’ or 'taxis' for
example.
spotlightonspend is powered by Spikes Cavell whose products and
services are currently being used by more than 720 public sector
bodies nationwide to support their drive to improve the way they
buy goods and services with the objective of saving money as well
as addressing important policy related questions, including
transparency. www.spikescavell.net
- ends -
About spotlightonspend:
spotlightonspend is an innovative online platform and supporting
data processing infrastructure that has been designed to radically
improve the accessibility, relevance and value of Government spend
information to the general public. http://www.spotlightonspend.org.uk
For further information, please contact:
Hayley Wienszczak
Spikes Cavell & Co
Tel: +44 (0)1635 556970
Email: hayley.wienszczak@spikescavell.net
Vanessa Land
Devonshire Marketing
Tel: +44 (0) 7768 693 779
Email: vanessa@devonshiremarketing.com