Treasury files opened up... if you have the right software

A massive database of Treasury spending figures was published today in what ministers hailed as Britain's biggest exercise in open government.

However, the reams of financial data are unintelligible to the public or even to City firms without specialised software to analyse it.

The COINS database contains details of every pound taken and spent by the Government or moved between departments, amounting to an immense 120 gigabyte store of figures.

Government insiders expect that analysts from the City and open government campaigners will make enough sense of the files by the end of this month to begin announcing findings. Until then, the public can download the files from the Treasury website and gaze at the raw figures - if their computer can handle it.

Danny Alexander, the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, hailed the move as an "unprecedented" act. He said: "For too long the previous government acted as if the public had no right to know where their hard-earned taxes were spent. Today we have lifted that veil of secrecy by releasing detailed spending figures dating back to 2008."

Labour had rejected calls by then shadow chancellor George Osborne and some Freedom of Information requests from pressure groups eager to access the database.

Mr Alexander admitted the data was complex but promised the next tranches of information would be easier to understand.