Communities secretary Eric Pickles’ campaign to open up local government to further transparency gained momentum last week, when he announced plans to put all contracts and tenders for more than £500 online.

Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) conference in Birmingham, Mr Pickles outlined the plans, following on from publishing all spending, and said: ‘This doesn’t just strengthen the hand of citizens. It strengthens the hand of rank-and-file councillors, letting them know what officials are doing on their behalf.’

Financial directors at the conference expressed concerns over the move, suggesting private sector firms were unlikely to want to put details of contracts online for fear of commercial sensitivity.

However, Elizabeth Fells, CBI head of public sector reform, said the business community supported greater transparency so the cost and quality of services being provided in different areas could be compared. ‘Our members support transparency as a way of improving services, but there are certain principles which need to be adhered to.

‘If information is to be made public, commercially- sensitive data would have to be protected,’ she said.

Judith Barnes, partner and head of local government at Eversheds said it was ‘too early to say’ if private sector firms were likely to object to the move. But, she added, ‘there may be a gap between the expectations of the private sector and the obligations of the public sector’ which could be difficult to balance.

Chief executive of the Association of Public Sector Excellence (APSE), Paul O’Brien, also welcomed the plan, claiming: ‘What’s good enough for local authority services is good enough for contractors to the sector.’

A DCLG spokesperson said the move was aimed at giving the public more data, and allowing them to ‘hold service-providers to account’. He added: ‘This applies to new contracts so councils can simplify that openness is one of the conditions. The new code of transparency will be published shortly.’