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Government Departments: Procurement

Answer

The details of every individual government procurement card transaction from April 2006 until October 2011 have been deposited in the Library of the House. These include the (a) amount, (b) supplier, (c) date and (d) merchant category. Merchant category is a broad description employed by the card-issuing company to designate the business where the card was used not the type of product purchased. These spending data include updated figures for 2006-07 and 2007-08 from those given in an earlier reply, which understated the total level of spend due to a coding discrepancy in the data extraction. My department has put a series of checks and balances to protect taxpayers' money, following the recommendations made by Sir Philip Green's report into government efficiency. Steps include: routinely publishing all spending over £500 each month, as part our transparency agenda; cutting the number of card holders from 210 in May 2010 to just 33 in October 2011; taking steps to cancel the cash withdrawal facility on the card (apart from two business continuity users); and introducing new internal checks and audit trails, from pre-approvals to requiring post-transaction reporting. As a result of these changes, monthly expenditure on these cards has reduced by three-quarters, from an average of £27,000 a month over the past two years, to an average of just £6,400 a month. I would encourage local authority users of the cards to take similar steps to help generate savings for their taxpayers. I also refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Bob Neill) on 13 October 2011 (Official Report, col. 483W), which provides all the transaction data from April 2004 to April 2006 under the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. I would note that the Department for Communities and Local Government has been the most open and transparent department of any Whitehall body in publishing details of all spending on government procurement cards. This transparency has helped identify wasteful spending, ensuring greater protection of taxpayers money in the future.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

14528; 734 c107-8WA

Session

2010-12

Related items

Freedom of Information
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Written questions
House of Commons

Government Departments: Procurement
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Written questions
House of Lords

Subjects

Department for Communities and Local Government Electronic purchasing card solution

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk