4 Improving Government through open
data
Openness and government efficiency
98. Some witnesses urged Government to seize the
opportunities offered by open data to improve its own performance
and its understanding of public service issues. The Institute
for Government pressed a wide-ranging case for openness as an
aid to efficiency, telling us that "When data is presented
clearly to the public in a way that makes comparisons possible,
it also encourages better use of data and enables better decisions
inside government."[134]
The ODI said that the benefits of open data to government itself
included "enabling external collaboration to increase data
quality, efficiencies in reducing duplication of effort and savings
through not having to pay the private sector for information that
government holds".[135]
ODI observed that starting to estimate the potential savings "would
provide the basis of the business case [within Government] for
more decisive action towards more open data."[136]
99. Stephan Shakespeare said that "One of the
reasons for making data available [...] is that the expertise
that comes to bear on it when you open up data is vastly increased."[137]
Sir Nigel Shadbolt cited as an example of good practice a site
run by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)
that is "comparing and interlinking data statistics from
across all local authorities."[138]
He said that this was "sufficiently well done that the Department
is starting to consume its own representation of this data in
lots of other reporting that it is doing."[139]
Sir Nigel also mentioned the Public Health England site "Longer
Lives", which assembles information about mortality and disease
rates in a way that is "very accessible to the public".[140]
He said that on this site "open data has been brought to
life and begun a very interesting debate around variations in
disease rates, death rates, mortality rates, up and down the country."[141]
100. Ministers told us that "Increasingly we
are seeing Departments consume their own and other Departments'
data to drive their policies and programmes."[142]
They gave the example of the Department for Transport which "uses
a mixture of its own data and private data to support projects
such as Transport Direct and an initiative to understand the impact
of better information about incidents on the A4."[143]
Another example was the Department for Communities and Local Government's
Whole Place Community Budgets and Troubled Families programmes
which, Ministers told us "have shown that information sharing
is key to designing and delivering services and achieving better
outcomes for vulnerable people."[144]
Missing opportunities to improve
effectiveness
101. Yet we heard evidence that Government was missing
some significant opportunities to make use of open data in this
way. Jacqui Taylor of FlyingBinary described the difficulties
encountered by a Tech City company she mentored, which had requested
the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs data via
ODUG to enable them to "challenge" the CAP levy paid
by the UK which is due to be renegotiated in 2014. Ms Taylor said
that the analysis they produce "could be of huge benefit
to UK PLC." However, "This data has not yet been released
by DEFRA although ODUG are attempting to get this data released
as soon as possible."[145]
102. Another barrier to improved Government was said
to be the licensing arrangements for some datasets. ODUG believed
that the flow of useful data around Government was discouraged
by the fact that important core datasets such as addressing and
geospatial data are "essentially re-purchased from the data
holders exclusively for the Public Sector".[146]
In such cases "public funds are used to repurchase data which
was originally funded from the public purse for the delivery of
a public task."[147]
This data has been "paid for twice by the taxpayer",
but access to it is still restricted.[148]
103. There is little evidence to
suggest that the Government is consistently making the most of
the opportunities to improve policy and performance via the use
of its own data. Departments need to make full use of the records
and information they possess to ensure they are running effectively.
Opening up that data to other departments will boost the Government's
evidence base and can improve policy making. The benefits of making
data open include not just an increase in openness and accountability,
but also the opportunity for outside experts to verify, and suggest
improvements in the quality and accuracy of, the data itself.
104. The Cabinet Office should be much more active
in ensuring Departments maximise the social and economic potential
of open data, not least in increasing their own efficiency and
effectiveness. To this end, it should:
a) require Departments to produce, by the
end of 2014, a detailed and timetabled plan for using data to
enhance their performance,
b) ensure that the data which is used to underpin
policy work in all public announcements is published alongside
the policy statements, and
c) bring an end, by January 2015, to the outdated
and wasteful practice whereby Departments have to pay for access
to data that has been produced by Government itself.
105. The Office for National Statistics, directed
by the UK Statistics Authority Board, should also be at the forefront
of this movement and show the way forward by example.
134 Institute for Government (OD 17) Back
135
ODI (OD 09) Back
136
As above Back
137
Q94 Back
138
Q113 Back
139
As above Back
140
As above Back
141
As above Back
142
Nick Hurd MP and Rt Hon Michael Fallon (OD 28) Back
143
As above Back
144
As above Back
145
FlyingBinary Ltd (OD 18) para 6 (c) Back
146
Open Data User Group (OD 14) para 9.4 Back
147
As above Back
148
As above Back
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