Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government is taking steps to ensure that all local authorities across the UK record third party spending with small businesses in a consistent manner to improve transparency and comparability; and if he will make a statement.

Local authorities in England are subject to the Transparency Code 2015. This requires that councils publish a range of data, including that on procurement and contracts. Here councils are required to publish data on invitations to tender for contracts over £5000 and contracts awarded over £5000 are published on a quarterly basis. This information should be made available in an open, machine readable format.