UK Freedom of Information E-news - June 2010



  1. New publication requirements from July 2010

1. New publication requirements from July 2010

Prime Minister David Cameron has written to Government departments with the view to achieving greater transparency. The plan provides just limited exemptions on national security and personal privacy grounds. From July 2010, government departments and agencies should ensure that any information is published in an open standardised format, making it available for third parties to re-use. The new requirements are as follows:

Central government spending transparency

  1. Historic Combined Online Information System (COINS) Treasury spending data to be published online in June 2010.
  2. All new central government ICT contracts to be published online from July 2010.
  3. All new central government lender documents for contracts over £10,000 to be published on a single website from September 2010, with this information to be made available to the public free of charge.
  4. New items of central government spending over £25,000 to be published online from November 2010.
  5. All new central government contracts to be published in full from January 2011.
  6. Full information on all Department for International Development (DIFD) projects over £500 to be published online from January 2011, including financial information and project documentation.

Local government spending transparency

  1. New items of local government spending over £500 to be published on a council-by-council basis from January 2011.
  2. New local government contracts and tender documents for expenditure over £500 to be published in full from January 2011.

Other key government datasets

Crime data to be published at a level that allows the public to see what is happening on their streets from January 2011.

Names, grades, job titles and annual pay rates for most senior civil servants with salaries above £150,000 to be published in June 2010.

Names, grades, job titles and annual pay rates for most senior civil servants and Non Departmental Public Bodies officials with salaries higher than the lowest permissible in Pay Band 1 of the Senior Civil Service pay scale to be published from September 2010.

Organograms for central government departments and agencies that include all staff positions to be published in a common format from October 2010.

See the Prime Minister’s letter of 31 May.

For further details on the Privacy Laws & Business UK Newsletter, please click here.

Copyright Privacy Laws & Business 2010