The details and receipts on MPs' expenses have been published
online about a month after they started being revealed in the Daily
Telegraph.
Both prime minister Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David
Cameron have said publishing expenses online will improve
transparency and help to improve public trust in government.
But many of the most important details have been blacked out. In
particular it is not possible to see MPs' addresses, which would
show constituents if their MP had engaged in the "flipping"
practice - changing which home they designate as their second home
to avoid paying capital gains tax.
MPs say it might compromise their safety to have addresses
published on the internet, but critics point to councillors in
local government, who nearly always publish their addresses to
illustrate that they live locally and are involved in the
community.
Many of the most shocking revelations that the Telegraph
published are not revealed by the online documents, such as Douglas
Hogg's claim for the cost of cleaning his moat.
The publication of expenses online is the first of many possible
steps that the government will take in improving the public's
access to government data on the internet. Gordon Brown recently
announced that web inventor Tim Berners-Lee will
advise government on how to improve the use of digital tools,
and the Cabinet Office has
blogged on plans to upload reams of data for public use after
the US government launched data.gov.
The expenses are available on the
Parliament website.
Picture from Rex Features.