Invoice-level procurement spending transparency is a cornerstone of public accountability.
Across England, Central Government departments, NHS bodies and local authorities are required to publish regular data on their payments to suppliers. These disclosures enable scrutiny of how public funds are spent and ensure that procurement processes remain open and fair.
Recent analysis by Tussell has uncovered a multi-billion-pound gap in Central Government publishing - with more than two years of invoice data missing from the Ministry of Justice.
Download Tussell's two-page report, which explores the scale of the gap and examines how delays in publication weaken public oversight of government spending.
Tussell's October 2025 analysis reveals:
89% of ministerial departments are failing to comply with publishing regulations.
26 months of Ministry of Justice spending is still unpublished.
£11bn of the Ministry of Justice’s spending is unaccounted for*
*Estimate based on June 2022 - May 2023 spending, the most recent full year for which procurement spend is published.
*
Tussell has repeatedly urged the worst-performing departments to meet their publishing obligations. We are now calling on HM Treasury to take action to enforce compliance and close the invoice publishing gap.
Tussell will revisit this topic in six months to assess how much progress has been made.
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