More than £6m has been spent on buying new buses, a Freedom of Information response has revealed.

The figure was published a following a landmark ruling by the Information Commissioner that could force government departments to reveal how public money is spent.

The Department of Infrastructure refused to disclose how much its transport services division had spent buying new buses, insisting this was commercially sensitive.

But the applicant appealed to the Information Commissioner who ruled that the DoI was not justified in refusing to supply the information.

Now the DoI has issued that information.

It shows that £6,236,928 has been spent on the fleet on 52 Mercedes buses.

That fleet comprises 33 Citaro single deckers, purchased at a price ranging from £134,490 to £169,100, and 19 Sprinter minibuses that were acquired for between £56,960 and £86,975 each.

In his ruling, Information Commissioner Iain McDonald noted: ’Public authorities are expected to be accountable and transparent where considerable expenditure is incurred. Improving public awareness of how public money is spent, and the integrity of those expenditure decisions, are drivers of the FoI Act.

’The public expects value for money - any assessment of whether public services offer value for money cannot be ascertained without knowledge of the cost.’

The FoI request for the purchase price of the buses and a copy of the contract with Mercedes Benz was submitted in October last year.

But the DoI refused, saying release of contract documents would ’prejudice the commercial interests of transport services and Mercedes’. Supplier EvoBus UK Ltd said it pricing information was confidential.