Argyll and Bute Council will continue to publish a list of all expense over £1000 on the Scottish Government’s ‘Spotlight On Spend’ website.

Following the success of a trial in 2011, the Council has committed to participating for a second year running. The council already provides the Scottish Procurement Information Hub with information on what it spends and this is enhanced by company information from commercial databases. The information from 2011-12 financial year is now available.

Leader of Argyll and Bute Council Roddy McCuish said

“The council is aware that it’s important for people to be able to see how their money is being spent, and on spotlightonspend the information is laid out in clear categories that people will recognise such as ‘construction’ and ‘highway equipment and materials’. There’s also a dedicated email address for any questions people may have - spotlightonspend@argyll-bute.gov.uk.”

To comply with Data Protection legislation, some entries are marked as “redacted”. This appears when the supplier is an individual person and the name, but not the amount, is concealed. Suppliers who were paid less than £1,000 during the financial year are not included, as the amount usually represents less than 1% of total spend. Figures presented are annual totals for the financial year, which is April to March.

The information on expenditure is categorised on the website by the type of goods or services provided.  This information comes from the supplier databases, such as the Thomson’s Local Directory. It relates to the stated business of the company, which may be different to the nature of the business carried out for Argyll and Bute Council.