Surrey County Conservatives

Eric Pickles opens the books (13th August)

Central Government learns from Local Government

Tim Hall, Cabinet Member for Change & Efficiency, has welcomed Eric Pickles’ decision to open the books of the Department of Communities & Local Government as a ‘great step forward’.

“Many local authorities, including Surrey, Guildford, Spelthorne and Waverley have been pursuing ‘the transprancy agenda’ for some time, by publishing details of those invoices over £500 in value. This is something that I think residents and campaign groups have welcomed, and it didn’t take much work to be able to collate all the data prior to it being published on the website.

Making this information available is the right thing to do, and Conservatives in local government have been leading the way on this. Andrew Povey has made openness and transparency a key priority for this Conservative administration at Surrey County Council, and I was pleased that we were able to drive forward the opening of our books this May, in advance of the creation of the new Conservative-led government.

I am very glad to see that Eric Pickles, having asked all local authorities to open up their books, has said ‘I need to be able to look local government in the eye and it’s only right that I get my own house in order’. This is a welcome change from the previous Labour government who wanted to keep everything secret and seemed to have ‘do as I say not do as I do’ as their guiding principle.

As Eric Pickles had made clear, ‘Not only does the public have a legitimate ‘right to know,’ this greater openness and transparency is absolutely critical to root out waste and inefficiency. It means that people can ask questions about how their hard-earned cash is being spent’.

It is good to see that under a Conservative-led government there is a recognition that central government can learn from local government and that Eric Pickles is providing a clear lead on the need to be open with our residents and businesses”.