Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information

APPSI has today submitted its response to the DCLG consultation on Policy options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey.

See APPSI-response-to-GI-Consultation.pdf (291.65 KB)

Members of the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI) are drawn from many different fields and all have very considereable experience. Nevertheless APPSI is seeking the views of private sector organisations, public sector organisations, and academia on the strategic options set out in Policy options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey - Consultation, which are summarised in the Executive Summary on pages 10-12 and set out in detail in Sections 6-9. We are doing this to ensure that we obtain the widest possible range of insights on this very important matter.
 
 
Why do we want to hear from you?
 
In particular, APPSI would like to shape its response to the Ordnance Survey consultation by drawing on evidence from organisations that use Ordnance Survey’s products and / or have a interest in the business models that are being proposed in the consultation. This will help APPSI to better understand how the proposed models could impact on Ordnance Survey customers and partners.
 
Please send your comments to…
 
The APPSI Secretariat at the following email address: secretariat@appsi.gsi.gov.uk by Monday 8 February 2010.
 
 

APPSI's overall response to Ordnance Survey's new business strategy is two-fold:

To welcome and acknowledge the principles underpinning Ordnance Survey's new Business Strategy and their importance in facilitating resolution of one of the longest running and most distracting issues in the public sector information world;

To highlight many of the issues which need to be resolved before any Strategy can be realised and make some constructive comments on these.

See APPSI-response-to-OS-Business-Strategy.pdf (217.72 KB) for details on the key issues emerging from Ordnance Survey's new Business Strategy.

APPSI's overall comments on this consultation are as follows:

• The Impact Assessment (IA) looked generally well-prepared, covering many of the impacts that needed to be measured. The benefits assessment has been undertaken in a conservative manner minimising the risk of optimism.  However, it is important that steps are taken to ensure that the benefits are actually realised.
• We are concerned that Statutory Instruments (SIs), and the IA, may not have recognised that the geographic area relevant to the Directive is wider than the UK – the Directive includes all areas where the UK has or exercises jurisdictional rights.  Hence, for example, it appears to include surrounding sea areas and the atmosphere above them.  The position of other areas, such as the Falklands (and surrounding areas), Gibraltar and the Channel Islands is not clear.
• For clarity, the SIs should note that INSPIRE includes data held on behalf of Public Authorities – thus data collected by the private sector may well be included if it is part of a statutory requirement.
• As a clarification, the Consultation Document should have made clear, in Annex 5 (on Related UK legislation) that the EIR does not require all information to be made available electronically and hence INSPIRE will not apply to such information.
• The underpinning idea of providing better access to information is strongly supported by APPSI; however this approach can easily become over-bureaucratic and expensive so safeguards to avoid this are essential.

See in full APPSI-response-to-INSPIRE-consultation.pdf (87.38 KB)

We are now awaiting reassurance that Royal Mail’s new licensing model will not interfere with long-established use of a dataset which has become part of the national data infrastructure.

See our letter in response to the Postal Address File Consultation.

• PAF-consultation-letter.pdf (78.85 KB)

On 1 February 2009, the Power of Information Task Force published an online draft report, inviting comments on the Task Force’s recommendations to Government on

·      how modern media can facilitate and embed the re-use principles of public sector information and improve public services;

·      how data can be presented in re-usable formats;

·      on the need for simplification of license models; and

·      the need to improve access to government information. 

APPSI's response is a majority report but is not agreed by all members. The Trading Fund representative on the Panel is not able to agree with or support this submission.

The response addresses:

·      Overview: the need to develop the knowledge economy and the re-use of public sector information through a more simplified licensing regime

·      Recommendation 9

·      Recommendation 10

·      Recommendation 11

·      Recommendation 12

·      Recommendation 18

 If you wish to discuss any of the points made in this response, please email the APPSI Secretariat: secretariat@appsi.gov.uk or telephone: 020 8392 5330 ext: 2252.

16.02.09-APPSI-Response-to-Draft-POI-Taskforce-Report.pdf (113.74 KB)

Background

In January 2008, the Prime Minister appointed an independent team to review when Government records are made available to the public. This review, which ran from January - April 2008, focused on whether, in the light of Freedom of Information and other considerations, there should be any changes to the ‘30 year rule’ – the time span under which most public records are transferred to The National Archives and opened for inspection. 

The Review took evidence from a wide range of organisations and individuals through evidence sessions and an opinion poll. It also examined in detail the history of access to public records, and the developments that have, arguably, cast doubt on the continued appropriateness of the 30 year rule. One of the most powerful of these, the report argues, is the Freedom of Information Act.

Recommendations

The key recommendations are:

• The reduction of the 30-year rule to 15 years, so that government records have to be transferred by the time they are 15 years old. This would be phased in over a period of 15 years.
• An independent review of the Radcliff rules on the publication of memoirs by former ministers, civil servants and special advisers.
• Changes to the Civil Service Code to help make sure that civil servants keep full, accurate and impartial records of government business.
• That government clarify that special advisers, as temporary civil servants, have a duty to keep a full record of their non-political activities which will be archived and released in the same way as any other official documents.
  

See 30-year rule review report (PDF, 796.91kb)

See also APPSI's response to the 30-year rule review consultation, 29 February 2008.

APPSI's response to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) consultation paper on Local Authorities (Charges for Property Searches) Regulations 2008 was submitted today.

APPSI's letter to DCLG makes the following points:

 

• that the Government's consultations on Local Authority property searches do not refer specifically to the Re-use of Public Sector Regulations 2005;
• that DCLG should consult the Director of OPSI and her team about how best to clarify the relationship between the draft Regulations on property search charges and the Re-use Regulations.
• that the supply of property records should be monitored periodically with a view to assessing whether or not the absence of such an obligation, is constraining the re-use of public sector information.

         See APPSI's response to DCLG (PDF - 147 KB) 

Since submitting its response to DCLG, APPSI has learned that DCLG's main consultation on property searches does indeed refer to the PSI Regulations 2005. See Charges for Property Search Services: A Consultation Paper, January 2008, pp. 50-51.

The Data Sharing review's final report was published on 11 July 2008 and concludes that:

• there is a lack of transparency and accountability in the way organisations deal with personal information
• there is confusion surrounding the Data Protection Act, particularly the way it interacts with other strands of law
• greater use could be made of the ability to share personal data safely, particularly in the field of research and statistical analysis
• the Information Commissioner needs more effective powers, and the resources to allow him to use them properly.

The report makes a series of recommendations, aimed at transforming the personal and organisational culture of those who collect, manage and share information:

See Data Sharing Review report:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/data-sharing-review-report.pdf

See Data Sharing Review annexes:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/data-sharing-review-annexes.pdf

The Prime Minister has appointed an independent team to review when Government records are made available to the public. This review will centre on whether, in the light of Freedom of Information and other considerations, there should be any changes to the ‘30 year rule’ – the time span under which most public records are transferred to The National Archives and opened for inspection. 

The 30-year rule review consultation was opened in early January and closed in mid-April 2008. The review team will report to the Prime Minister and the Lord Chancellor by the autumn of 2008.

APPSI believes the 30-year rule is anomalous in policy terms and unnecessarily inhibits the re-use of public sector information.

APPSI recommends that the emphasis of the 30-year rule is changed to one of openness; and that public records should be made available earlier to encourage greater re-use of public sector information.
Full response see The Panel’s response to Consultation on the 30 Year Rule (PDF - 160 KB)