3.

Executive Summary

3.1 Open Data and Transparency[1] may be the most powerful levers of 21st century public policy. They present multiple opportunities offering benefit to the public sector, individuals, businesses and the UK as a whole. They also create opportunities for the UK on an international stage.

3.2 Open Data enables accountability; it improves outcomes and productivity in key services through informed comparison; it transforms social relationships – empowering individuals and communities; and it drives dynamic economic growth. Delivering Open Public Services, as described in the Open Public Services White Paper – and Open Data is key to that – is also about reducing the administrative burden on these services. Better data actually means less but higher quality data, and more openness means fewer Freedom of Information Act requests for this data and less red-tape.

3.3 Much has already been achieved in opening up the public sector, as demonstrated in the two open letters from the Prime Minister on transparency.[2] These covered the opening of finance data, health data, information about public servants, rail timetables, and school performance. This document will set out proposals for embedding a culture of openness and transparency in public services.  It sets out how we might create the ‘pull’ (a right to data) and the ‘push’ (a presumption of publication) that will underpin the further development of Open Government in the UK.[3]  This consultation invites views on:

  • How we might enhance a ‘right to data’, establishing stronger rights for individuals, businesses and other actors to obtain data from public bodies and about public services;
  • How to set transparency standards that enforce this right to data;
  • How public bodies and providers of public services might be held to account for delivering Open Data;
  • How we might ensure collection and publication of the most useful data;
  • How we might make the internal workings of government and the public sector more open;
  • How far there is a role for government to stimulate enterprise and market making in the use of Open Data.

3.4 Alongside these proposals, this document sets out a proposed glossary of terms which establishes the scope and limits of terms like ‘Open Data’ and the range of ‘Public Services’. These terms are also open for consultation.

3.5 The document sits alongside a number of other initiatives:

  • the second phase of the Growth Review, which will include a specific work strand on the economic opportunities of Open Data;
  • proposals for the data policy framework of a Public Data Corporation on which a separate consultation is being launched;
  • an independent review of privacy and transparency by Dr Kieron O’Hara of Southampton University, which is due to be published in the summer; and
  • the delivery of the commitments outlined in the PM’s letter on Transparency of 7 July 2011 and revision of existing Information Strategies to be published in refreshed departmental business plans from April 2012.

3.6 The proposals are designed to promote a collaborative and wide-ranging discussion with partners in government, the wider public sector, and the broader user community. Over the summer, the Cabinet Office team responsible for this policy will engage with these stakeholders to refine and develop proposals further. Following the consultation period and the conclusion of a full impact assessment, we will revise proposals and publish a White Paper in the autumn bringing together input from the consultation and other initiatives outlined above and setting out the way forward. 

[1] In this document, ‘Transparency’ and ‘Open Data’ are at times used interchangeably. Broadly speaking, we consider Transparency to be the goal and Open Data to be the tool.

 

[2] 2010: http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/letter-to-government-departments-on-opening-up-data/; 2011: http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/letter-to-cabinet-ministers-on-transparency-and-open-data/

[3] ‘Open Government’ can be broadly defined as a vision for collaborative democracy that uses openness and modern technology to bring the people’s expertise together in the policy-making process, see Beth Noveck, Wiki Government How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful (2009).

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