[wdmmg-discuss] HMT guidelines on departmental spending

Tue Oct 5 19:38:28 UTC 2010

Just been looking at the Treasury guidelines for the forthcoming
departmental spending releases [1], and several things seem disappointing.

1. Prescriptive structure of 9 columns, with only 1 column for 'expense
type' - so we can't use our bubble viz, with no hierarchy of
classifications. Why not have 8 columns + an arbitrary number of 'expense
type' columns at the end?

2. No requirement for standard classifications using e.g. PSPES, so hard to
compare across departments. OK, they want to get the data out fast, but if
some departments use both PSPES and internal expense types (as DCLG seemed
to in their 2009 release) would be nice to have both. Because the structure
is so prescriptive, looks like departments won't include this.

3. Permissible redactions include: "Potential betrayal of a commercial
confidence, or prejudice to a legitimate commercial interest". This is part
of FOIA, but the Local Data Panel guidance to councils warned: "Very rare
and will need to be justified". No such guidance here.

Did HMT ask us for any advice when writing this document?

[1] http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/transparency_spend_over25100910.pdf
[2] http://data.gov.uk/blog/local-spending-data-guidance
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