All Government departments will be made to publish details of any spending over 25,000 in new plans laid out by the Coalition today.
The move will see monthly updates of big spends made available to all via the data.gov.uk website in the latest attempt to open up Government data.
The project was launched today by the Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, who claimed it was a "world first" for any Government to open up spending data in this way.
"When you are forced to account for the money you spend, you spend it more wisely," he wrote in The Guardian. "We believe that publishing this data will lead to better decision-making in Government and will ultimately help us save money."
Following this first phase, Prime Minister David Cameron also confirmed all Government contracts worth over 25,000 will start being published in January with "every clause, every performance measure, every penalty trigger" available for the public to see.
"This is going to make a huge difference to the deals we get and help us get real value for money for the tax payer," he said in a video for the Number 10 website.
Maude claimed this would help smaller businesses get the Government contracts they have been kept away from in the past.
"It will give small companies, charities, social enterprises and mutuals access to information and contracts that had previously been restricted to those with the right contacts and the right information and forms an integral part of our push to get more SMEs and voluntary organisations involved in government contracts," he added.
A number of controversial expenditures have already come to light after only hours of the data becoming available.
The Financial Times revealed HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC) had spent 164,000 over six months on rented water coolers, whilst the Daily Mail disclosed 88,000 had been paid by Nick Clegg's department to the law firm his wife, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, is a senior partner of.
The push for open data in Government follows World Wide Web founder, Sir Tim Berners Lee, launching a campaign last year to encourage Westminister to make more data readily available online.
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