Transparency

Transparency might sound like a nightclub for the barely clothed, but is, in fact, a new part of the Number 10 website giving the public the opportunity to check the progress of government departments. 

David Cameron has clearly not been reading Tony Blair's memoirs. For the ex-Prime Minister wrote in the execrable A Journey that the one thing he regretted of his time in office was not the Iraq war, but the freedom of information act. Journalists only use it against politicians he said. So perhaps Mr. Cameron will come to regret what he has called a "complete revolution" in how government operates.

At present there are four sections: Business Plans, Who does what in Whitehall, Who ministers are meeting and the rather catch-all Find all other government data. On the way are How your money is spent and Government contracts in full. 

Cleverly, the information is presented in hotch-potch fashion, with a combination of tedious Excel sheets, links to other government department websites and PDF files. The whole thing is rather like a friend who goes into a little too much detail about their affairs. But "too much information" might be a response that the Coalition will welcome. 

If you find that the information as currently presented is more opaque than transparent, you might like to contribute to the comment thread at the bottom of the homepage. 

10 November 2010