Tory ministers came under more pressure to ensure maximum availability of government and local government data, including IT contracts, during a a fringe meeting at the Conservative conference in Birmingham.

Liam Maxwell, a research fellow of the Centre for Policy Studies, told delegates that greater transparency was needed to induce behavioural change among civil servants and local government officers, and that increased transparency would also help to bring about this change.

All data, including contract details, should be put online, he said. The process would fuel the drive to obtain "better for less".

Centre director Jill Kirby, who chaired the meeting, said: "We must put more government and local government data online to drive down costs."

Microsoft head of government affairs Paul Morris urged for greater information exchange to improve government performance – including more communication around the economic opportunities of cloud computing.

Source: http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2271046/tories-under-pressure-implement#ixzz11f4ddxY8