Today, the Government has published a report called 'Working Together - Public Services on your side' outlining its vision for public services reform. In his foreword, the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown says the Government "has been much too slow to make use of the enormous democratising power of information." He adds: "People take it for granted that they will access other people's reviews and ratings before buying something on eBay or Amazon, and yet we do not yet have systematic access to other people's experiences when choosing a GP practice or nursery. We have clearly got the balance wrong when online businesses have higher standards of transparency than the public services we pay for and support."
The Strategic Government section of the report on page 67 refers to the Power of Information Task Force's vision. It says:
The independent Power of Information Task Force published its report on 2 March. The report contained 25 challenging recommendations to government aimed at improving the use of information in this new world. The Task Force's work has been recognised internationally as providing a cutting-edge vision, with examples of what modern public service delivery might be.
The Government welcomes the Task Force's vision, accepts its overall messages and will be responding on the detailed recommendations shortly. We are already taking steps to implement this vision and in 2009 we will seek to deliver the following:
Open information. To have an effective voice, people need to be able to understand what is going on in their public services. Government will publish information about public services in ways that are easy to find, easy to re-use, and will unlock data, where appropriate, through the work of the Office of Public Sector Information.
Open innovation. We will promote innovation in online public services to respond to changing expectations. The Government will seek to build on the early success of innovate.direct.gov.uk by building such innovation into the culture of public services and public sector websites.
Open discussion. We will promote greater engagement with the public through more interactive online consultation and collaboration. We will also empower professionals to be active on online peer-support networks in their area of work.
Open feedback. Most importantly, the public should be able to have a fair say about their services. The Government will publish best practice in engaging with the public in large numbers online, drawing on the epxerience of the www.showusabetterway.com competition and the www.londonsummit.gov.uk, as well as leading private examples like www.ideastorm.com.
Posted at Tuesday, March 10, 2009 1:16:05 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
