Did you know councils are obliged to open their books to members of the public - allowing them to see every invoice, every payment and every receipt - for 20 days each year?
This isn't new, but it's not always well publicised. This year, the Government is making an effort to get word out, so that "residents and armchair auditors" have a chance to inspect spending in their local authority.
It's set up a search engine allowing people to check when their local authority is making its accounts available, which you can find here: http://local.direct.gov.uk/LDGRedirect/index.jsp?LGSL=1584&LGIL=8 .
