Councils could be forced to reveal details of contracts worth more than £500, communities secretary Eric Pickles has revealed.
Speaking at the CIPFA annual conference in Birmingham today (7 July), Mr Pickles said the 'next wave of transparency' following the government's insistence local authorities should put spending out in the public domain, 'will be councils putting all contracts worth over £500 online as well'.
'It doesn't just strengthen the hand of the public but it also helps ward councillors,'he added.
Mr Pickles also warned the audience of local government finance professionals of further transparency requirements linked to their use of cash.'Councils must, by law, hold a financial open day, throwing open their books and invite local people to examine them,' he said.
'I intend to collate a central list of all the dates of those open days and publish it.'
Mr Pickles re-iterated government plans to return business rates to local control, outlined in a speech to the Local Government Association Conference last week.
He claimed the move would give councils 'even stronger reasons' to work with the private sector to improve the economic prosperity of their area.
