The government has today announced a further £18m of property-related spending cuts, on top of £780m of savings already announced this year.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles yesterday published figures showing that the £60m budget for eco-towns, a programme not supported by the coalition, would be slashed by £17m.

The figures also show a £1.3m cut to design watchdog the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, as well as smaller cuts to six other housing and planning programmes.

Pickles made the announcement as an aside to the release of government spending data covering all spending by his Department for Communities and Local Government of more than £50 in 2009-2010.

The figures include £635,000 spent on taxis and cars and nearly £310,000 on catering and food.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said this “greater openness in spending” would help to cut waste and increase value for money.

He said: “That is why I have been asking councils to ’show me the money’ so local taxpayers can see where their hard earned cash is going.

“Now it’s our turn. I don’t believe in one rule for councils and one for this department. Central government spends billions of tax pounds every year and transparency at this level of spending is just as important.

“This department, like the rest of Whitehall, needs to look at where every penny is going and getting this data out in the open will help that process.

“The data is already highlighting how we need to do things differently. That means spending more carefully, getting better deals and asking ourselves at every turn whether every purchase is needed and whether it provides value for the taxpayers’ pound. Looking at last year’s spending it is clear that there is room for improvement.”

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