Sir – Oxford City Council’s publication of spending information for the year 2009-2010 is welcome, as is deputy leader Ed Turner’s willingness to provide details of any transaction on request. I suspect he will be a busy man, as the 28-page ‘Spend by Amount’ document raises more questions than it answers, as no description is provided of the services rendered. Here are some questions arising just from page one of the document.

Champion Employment, slogan ‘Finding the right people’, were paid £3,515,720, nearly the double amount of the previous year. Why? Surely hiring temporary staff is a false economy? Nuffield College’s £640,539 is one of the most surprising entries. What did they do? Osborne Richardson, who got £517,888, are ‘Specialist providers of Human Resources & Consultancy Services’. This does rather put in to question what the authority’s own HR people do. Why was it necessary to employ this firm?

The Audit Commission collected £369,190. This soon to be abolished body is responsible for ensuring value for money in local government — how does paying them hundreds of thousands of pounds represent value for money?

Frankham Consultancy received £366,515 — they claim to ‘use intelligent ideas to create human benefits’. Maybe Ed Turner could give us an example of one of their intelligent ideas, and how it benefited the people of Oxford.

The Clarkson Alliance were paid £353,872. Their motto is ‘We believe looking at the bigger picture gives us the edge — the leading edge’. They certainly have the edge in taking our money — what for? I’m sure other residents will have many more questions.

Could I suggest that the city council provides a brief narrative description of the services provided by each supplier, along with the amounts paid? That really would represent progress in open and accountable local government.

Chris Brewer, Oxfordshire Green Party