What has Nottingham City Council got to hide?

Nottingham is continuing to hold out as the only council in England to keep its spending secret.

It's claiming it would have to recruit extra staff and that the complexity would be a "minefield." Why have other councils been able to manage without such problems? For that matter how has the DCLG itself managed it?

Most desperate is the patronising claim that secrecy is really the best path to transparency and accountability.

"The sheer volume of less-than-useful data could make it harder to find useful information."

Most touching. But on their website at present I can't find any payments to suppliers. Nor can I find any details on salaries to senior Council officers. How would publishing this data make it "harder to find useful information."

Local Government Minister Grant Shapps is unimpressed by the excuses. He says on Twitter:

Councils & my Dept find publishing each £500 online costs didly-squat. Looking like Notts City has something BIG to hide.