Tories promise to bare all on the web

Offering citizens a "right to data"

Tory leader David Cameron has outlined his plans for a more open government.

Cameron said that once in power, the Conservatives would publish information about government jobs and performance reviews of institutions including the NHS on the internet, paving the way for increased accountability and improved responsibility.

The plans follow the furore surrounding the publishing of 'redacted' MPs' expenses details and a number of other scandals.

"After the political crisis this year, the consensus for change is overwhelming. But the reality has so far been distinctly underwhelming," Cameron said in a speech at Imperial College London entitled Giving power back to the people. "Blacked-out expense claims. The announcement of a behind-closed-doors Iraq enquiry. And a prime minister who talks about restoring the authority of parliament but is still going around making policy announcements on the radio."

Cameron suggested a range of changes, including publishing details of every item of government spending over £25,000. "It will all be there for an army of armchair auditors to go through, line by line, pound by pound, to hold wasteful government to account," he explained.

The data would be freely available to individuals, according to Cameron, who suggested that some of the most trendy Web 2.0 tricks and tactics could be applied to it.

"This information will be published proactively and regularly - and in a standardised format so that it can be 'mashed up' and interacted with," he explained. "What's more, because there is no complete list that can tell us exactly what data the government collects, we will create a new 'right to data' so that further datasets can be requested by the public."