[wdmmg-discuss] HMT guidelines on departmental spending

Wed Oct 6 10:14:17 UTC 2010

I met Karren Sanderson, one of the authors of the guideline, on Monday.

No they didn't ask our advice on it.
I think in future they will.

On Tue, 5 Oct 2010, Anna Powell-Smith wrote:

> 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
>