John Biggs AM welcomes City Hall pledge to publish contracts

A pledge by City Hall to publish all its contracts was welcomed by the assembly member for east London for bringing greater transparency to the capital’s politics.

John Biggs AM, who is also running for mayor of Tower Hamlets on the Labour ticket, said the move will help people monitor how the Greater London Authority (GLA) spends public money.

The announcement comes after a review of transparency at the GLA by its Overview Committee led by Mr Biggs.

Mayor Boris Johnson has committed to publish all contracts entered into by the GLA and most of the contracts for GLA Group bodies.

Mr Biggs said: “City hall spends about £14 billion on behalf of Londoners each year.

“Far too often in the past commercial confidentiality has been used as a catch-all to prevent the people from finding out how public authorities are spending their money and what value the private sector is delivering in return for taxpayers’ cash.

“The open publication of contracts entered into on behalf of the Mayor will leave no hiding place for poor performance or overpriced services.”

The GLA, the Metropolitan police service and Mayor’s office for policing and crime will publish all their contracts, while the fire service and London Legacy Development Corporation will publish contracts above £10,000.

Transport for London will publish contracts above the threshold set by the Official Journal of the European Community.