Welsh Government to review spending data after minister handed ‘impenetrable’ spreadsheet

Emily Price 

The Welsh Government has committed to reviewing how it presents publicly accessible spending data after a minister was handed an “impenetrable” spreadsheet of codes during a committee meeting.

Cabinet Minister for Government Effectiveness and the Constitution Dafydd Trystan Davies held the printed data sample up at meeting room cameras during a Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee session earlier this month.

It had been handed to him by Reform UK’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Finance and Government Efficiency Cai Parry-Jones who had asked the minister if he was happy with the way in which spending data was presented to the public.

Parry-Jones, a former data analyst, pointed out that the data sample he had taken from a dashboard detailing the Welsh Government’s expenditure over £25,000 was “impenetrable”.

One row of the dashboard offered figures for an unknown government expenditure labelled “profit centre XF73”.

The Reform MS asked the minister if he knew what the code related to, pointing out that members of the public wouldn’t know.

Trystan Davies said it related to the strategy and funding division on student loans but admitted the Reform MS’s point was “well made”.

Holding the data sheet up to committee members and the cameras, the minister said: “I mean, clearly, as a member of the public, exhibit A from the Member—XF73—doesn’t particularly add much to understanding.

“So, I’m quite happy to look at how we present these things to make sure.

“I mean, in truth, row 1 is from the strategy and funding division.

“It is related to student loans. It is a payment to the student loans company, and it is a payment of £362 million, which is clear.

“The first two columns do not necessarily add very much to my understanding and, therefore, I suspect, to the public’s understanding.”

Parry-Jones pointed out that the indecipherable codes used by the Welsh Government were “locked behind a system” that requires the public to send off a Freedom of Information request to find out what a specific code relates to.

The Reform MS said: “I think the public would be much happier if they just had quick and easy access to this, rather than having to look at a code, request what that code means, wait for 20 days, possibly get a response.

“So, that should be a really quick fix, I think, for this Government to make, and I’m happy to help out as a data engineer if you need it.”

Laughing, Trystan Davies responded saying: “We’re in danger of agreeing on everything, Chair. I’m not quite sure it’s supposed to be like this!”

Speaking after the exchange, Parry-Jones said: “Taxpayers have a right to understand what their money is being spent on.

“I was pleased to convince the Welsh Government’s Minister for Government Effectiveness that the quality of some of the data it publishes to the public is woeful and needs to be fixed.

“Another example of Reform holding the Welsh Government to account in opposition.”

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