Open Data consultation

Earlier this month, the Cabinet Office transparency team (led by Francis Maude) published the Open Data Consultation paper.

On a first skim, the consultation has lots about getting more data out – proposing an enhanced right to data, and a presumption that public bodies (and public service providers) will need to publish data. All well and good, but there appears to be less consultation on what is needed to help ensure that the data is used for service improvement or transparency (although there is a useful appendix of UK and international examples).

As local government and others have found, it’s not just a matter of getting the data out there. And we know from collaborating on DataBridge that more support is needed for voluntary sector and local communities to make good use of the data. We will be going through the consultation properly soonish, and will post up our thoughts here.

And responses are due October 27th, so get typing!