Oscar may step in after Coins gets tossed

The Treasury says the government has outgrown the capabilities of the current system

Osborne opened up Coins in June

The Treasury today said it may have found a replacement for the government's spending web site, the Combined Online Information Database (Coins).

The government said last month that it would replace Coins, which has been criticised for the inscrutability of its data. The database was opened to the public in June this year.

However, any replacement will be subject to ministerial approval and will depend on spending decisions to be published on 20 October.

A Treasury spokesperson said that Project Oscar, which stands for online system for central accounting and reporting, may be a suitable replacement for Coins.

The team running Oscar, which was launched last summer by the Labour government, will also be responsible for the implementation of any replacement system.

The Treasury spokesperson also indicated that a new computer system had been purchased to underpin Coins, but was unable to provide further details.

Coins was introduced in 2005 and is over half way through its expected life. The coalition government’s transparency drive means that the department is “outgrowing the capabilities of the current system”.

In a statement, the Treasury said: "A new system would better support improved transparency of public sector financial information; simplified publication of the database data itself; improved system functionality; enhanced access to data for system users; data storage with increased granularity; and the ability to better analyse and model information at the centre of government. "