UK Gov't Spending Details Now Online 56
krou writes "The UK government has released a treasure trove of public spending data in an effort to lift what Prime Minister David Cameron calls the government's 'cloak of secrecy.' 'The first two tranches of data are from 2008/09 and 2009/10. The Combined Online Information System (Coins) includes what departments were authorised to spend, what they actually spent and what they are forecast to spend in future.' Since the government admits that 'some degree of technical competence' will be needed to use the files, they have asked the Open Knowledge Foundation to help make it 'more accessible,' and have also promised 'more accessible formats' by August. The datasets can be downloaded from data.gov.uk."
And on a similarly happy note, reader mccalli writes "Bletchley Park's archive is to be digitised and put online. It seems HP made an offer to help out with scanners and expertise, and the result is that these texts will be made available to all."
UK data release vs US annual reports? (Score:5, Insightful)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_annual_financial_report [wikipedia.org]
That would show an accurate picture of the UKs institutional funds, financial holdings, assets and total investment incomes, for the government.
Re:Splendid (Score:5, Insightful)
It's the Daily Mail. They probably just made it up [wikipedia.org].
Re:Torrrents. (Score:4, Insightful)
Transparency (Score:2, Insightful)
Good. Transparency, and honesty, make for better government. I was shocked at how our school district was consistently ignoring the budget that had been set and choosing to spend more despite repeated voter instructions to stop this behavior.
Re:The downside of all this (Score:2, Insightful)
If you are spending public money then you have a duty of account for it. If you think you are entitled to spend £2000 on memory without having the relevant paperwork, then please leave public service now.
Re:The downside of all this (Score:4, Insightful)
Presumably that purchase order goes into some sort of computer system even now, the amount spent and a code for type of purchase.
Once it's in there the rest can be automated, no need for a 'layer of junior civil servants' to re-type the data.
If I was paranoid I might suspect there will be another layer of people censoring it and fiddling with it to look good, but that's another story...
Re:The downside of all this (Score:3, Insightful)
Yep, 2k is hardly a "minor purchase". How many taxpayers do you suppose it takes to pay for that (plus your wages)?
Re:The downside of all this (Score:2, Insightful)
What's really something is that the poster works for a "non-elected government body"
In Soviet Russia...aw never mind
I know it's early days... (Score:3, Insightful)
but is it at all possible that the coalition is doing GOOD instead of evil?
I do believe that's unprecedented.
Re:The downside of all this (Score:3, Insightful)
This is ultimately why government should not do very much.
The idea that you can have honest, efficient, accountable government is impossible.
It is far better to let people offer their services and have other people choose to pay for those services... aka... a free market.
I don't know if the restaurant chain down the street is run efficiently and I certainly don't need to know the details of how they run their business. I really don't care. What I do care about is that they make amazing food with amazing service for $8 a plate. The other restaurants are not a high quality. What better accountability than people handing over their own money?
The UK is the ultimate in creating bureaucratic nonsense. Their best teachers spend more time writing reports and going through red tape than teaching... all to justify the costs in education.
So like you, I'm not too impressed with the extra information.
The more the government can leave to free people making free choices, the better society is.
Yes, the legal system and various monopolies (roads,electricity) will always involve government. And I'm always willing to just accept 'reasonable' spending in those areas. Even if everything is not accounted for.
The problem comes when government is expected to run everything from healthcare to education to obesity problem... now there is way too much money in the hands of bureaucrats who ultimately do not have the accountability of people putting up their own money.