Vision

4.1 Information is power and by sharing it, we can deliver modern, personalised and sustainable public services. Transparency of data in the UK has already transformed our interaction with the private sector, particularly via the internet. From financial services and online banking, to travel booking and retailing, access to data has become a means to change the relationship we have with service providers and retailers: we have access to our personal data, we compare providers, we exercise choice and we share our feedback. Online banking was first launched thirteen years ago and now has more than 22m users in the UK. This is the kind of meaningful Information Revolution that we now seek in our public services.

4.2 For the public sector, Transparency and Open Data are about helping people find the right doctor for their needs, or the best teacher for their child, or helping a victim of crime track whether justice is done. It is about helping frontline professionals compare outcomes and improve them.  It is about giving people access to their individual medical records so that they can manage their health better and make more informed decisions with their clinician. It is about giving people the data on local authority spending and delivery that they need to challenge the value of a service provided.  Above all, it is about providing the data people need to make choices and to help improve public services.

4.3 Open Data may be the most powerful lever of 21^st century public policy: it can make accountability real for citizens; it can improve outcomes and productivity in key services through informed comparison; it can transform social relationships – empowering individuals and communities; and it can drive dynamic economic growth.   A recent McKinsey report forecast that the benefit of public data assets to the European economy, if used effectively to drive innovation and enterprise, could be up to 250bn Euros'.[1]

4.4 The proposals in this consultation are designed to support the agenda outlined in the recently published Open Public Services White Paper. More accessible, higher quality data can support better quality services that are more responsive to individual and community needs, giving more freedom and professional discretion to those who deliver them, and providing better value for taxpayers’ money. Open Data is central to putting power in the hands of individuals and local communities to enable people to choose what sort of service they want and find the best provider to meet their needs. 

4.5 In beginning to embed Open Data in the public sector, much has already been achieved: the public now has access to more than 6,000 data sets through data.gov.uk; the Government has appointed a Public Sector Transparency Board to support and challenge public sector bodies in the implementation of Open Data standards; and a new Open Government Licence has made it easier for public service providers to publish data. Significant datasets have been released. To name a few:

• Historic COINS spending data published online
• New central government ICT contracts published online
• New central government tender documents for contracts over £10,000 published on a single website, with this information made available to the public free of charge and new local government contracts and tender documents for expenditure over £500 published in full
• New items of central government spending over £25,000 published online and new items of local government spending over £500 published on a council-by-council basis
• Crime data published at a level that allows the public to see what is happening on their streets

4.6 In his second letter on Transparency published on 7 July 2011, the Prime Minister announced a series of unprecedented commitments to focus on public service outcomes, through publication of new key data on the National Health Service, schools, criminal courts and transport.  These will be delivered over the coming year.

4.7 But there is still far more to be done – at present the reality for citizens is that getting access to meaningful data about their public services can still be difficult and is sometimes impossible. Equally for enterprise, particularly start-ups and SMEs, getting access to data that helps grow their business may be difficult or close to impossible. The quality of data that is currently published is often poor, and publication may be intermittent, which is unhelpful for business in particular. Standards do not exist across departments or wider public bodies, so it is difficult to make comparisons. Data may be published without clear explanations of context, meaning that in reality it is difficult to use. Fundamentally, the right to continued access to a dataset, once released, does not exist. The culture within the public sector and with public service providers is not currently focused on making data available.

4.8 This document sets out a number of levers that the Government is considering using to make Open Data and Transparency the operating principle of public services, including the creation of an enhanced right to data, giving individuals and organisations the right to access, interpret and utilise data in an enhanced form for bodies already subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) or Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) legislation, and a new right to data for a wider range of public service providers extending to cover providers who have been funded, commissioned or established by statute to provide a service.  

4.9 Simply stated, the proposals outline how we will move to a position where most data held by public bodies and about public services will be available for re-use under the Open Government Licence, except in very specific circumstances.  There will continue to be exceptions, for example for personal data, data that through release might compromise national security or Ministerial decision-making.  When considering whether or not to charge for data, a transparent business case setting out why will be made, including any cost or value for money implications, unless the data falls into one of the exceptions set out above.

4.10 It is our intention that data already provided free should not be charged for, and there is no question of charging for data required to hold public bodies accountable or for the “key data about public services, user satisfaction and the performance of all providers.[2]

4.11 This policy framework is set out at a high level for consultation over the summer.  The Transparency Team in the Cabinet Office will use that consultation to refine and develop proposals further, and following consultation will publish a fuller document confirming the Government’s policy approach.

Footnotes

[1] http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/publications/big_data/index.asp

[2] Para 3.4 of the Open Public Services White Paper: http://files.openpublicservices.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/OpenPublicServices-WhitePaper.pdf.