Written question asked by Lord Prescott (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Earl Attlee (Conservative) on Wednesday, 21 December 2011.

Government Departments: Procurement

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the (1) date of purchase, (2) amount, (3) supplier and (4) level 3 or enhanced transaction entry of each transaction undertaken by the Department for Transport using the Government Procurement Card in (a) 2006–07, (b) 2007–08, (c) 2008–09, (d) 2009–10, and (e) 2010–11.

Answer: This Government are committed to transparency and so during October we began to publish information on transactions over £500 for 2011-12 for the Department of Transport on our website and will continue to do so on a monthly basis. This can bee seen at: http://data.gov.uk/dataset/dit-gpc-spend Information on transactions over £500 for 2010-11 will be published by the end of March 2012. The previous Government did not approach transparency in this open way, so the cost of the work required to obtain, contextualise and report data for central government departments from the previous three years, or regarding those transactions under £500, would exceed the cost limits of a Freedom of Information request or a Parliamentary Question.

Secondary information