At the meeting of APPSI on 22 July 2010, members heard a presentation by The National Archives staff on the Transparency Agenda. It was subsequently agreed that APPSI should express some views to the consultation now underway on the Public Data Transparency Principles and work programme. This note provides those views:

• APPSI has long argued that the government requires a strategy to prioritise information garnering rather than relying entirely on serendipitous data harvesting of what is readily available.  We understand that there is no strategy in place to prioritise datasets for incorporation in data.gov.uk.  We regard this as wasteful and unlikely to deliver the maximum benefit in the short or medium term.

• We welcome the Public Data Transparency Principles. But government’s working definition of ‘public data’ contradicts the ethos of the Principles in that it does not address the issue of public good.  The existing definition is almost entirely predicated upon the management and policy needs of government. It also makes clear that the data are those created as a by-product of public service delivery. Taken at face value, all this is a reversion to the Rayner Review of the 1980s. Given the Public Data Principles, the Prime Minister’s letter to departments of 31 May 2010 (see: http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/statements-and-articles/2010/05/letter-to-government-departments-on-opening-up-data-51204) and existing and putative legislation, we suspect this phrasing is an oversight and urge that government should reconsider this definition. A version more in tune with the Principles would be: ‘Public data’ are the objective, factual, non-personal data collected by government at all levels to meet policy, service delivery and public accountability purposes, to enhance the capacity of individuals to be active citizens and to facilitate innovation.

• The first Public Data Principle: Public data policy and practice will be clearly driven by the public and businesses who want and use the data, including what data is released when and in what formats can not be met without effective consultation with users – current and latent.  Such consultation is difficult – as the long experience in the official statistics world makes clear. Without it however success will only be by luck. We understand that the Transparency Board will consider user representation. We urge a more purposeful and planned engagement with the user community rather than simply providing data in the hope that this will meet needs. 

• In order for government to make data freely available it is important that the public task, which generates the information, is clearly defined. We are pleased to hear that this matter is under active discussion and look forward to seeing the results.

• APPSI’s members from the devolved administrations pointed out that the Transparency Agenda is very Whitehall-centric and more needs to be done to establish a relationship with those administrations. 

• One member commented that, based on his experience, data.gov.uk is very confusing as the data is available in formats that can’t easily be re-used and metadata is very limited in explaining the characteristics (hence reliability) of the data. He recognised that this might be transitory given the early stage of development of the web site. Has there been any investigation of the usability of the web site and the active use of the data therein?

• It was agreed amongst APPSI members that measuring the economic and social value of data.gov.uk would be difficult, not least because of the shift of policy outcomes emphasis between administrations.  Given the significance of the whole workstream, the expenditure of public funds and the strong political support, APPSI members nevertheless believe it would be responsible for a benchmark to be established now so that changes wrought by data.gov.uk could be assessed effectively at some stage (e.g. in three year’s time).

• In addition, APPSI members debated the trade-offs between continuing to publish data in existing, internationally-defined standards specific to a discipline and re-engineering them into the more universal form underpinning data.gov.uk.  We concluded that the relative merits of these might be case-specific, that the resources required for any re-engineering were not clear to us and that indeed both approaches might end up running in parallel.

These views have been posted on data.gov.uk at:  http://data.gov.uk/blog/new-public-sector-transparency-board-and-public-data-transparency-principles

On 31 March 2010 Communities and Local Government published the then Government's response to its consultation on policy options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey.

In its response, CLG set out its intention to move to a commercial relationship with Ordnance Survey to provide mapping products and services to Government, and, subject to discussions, the entire public sector, under a centrally-funded Public Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA).

CLG now confirms that a PSMA for provision of Ordnance Survey GI data to all of the public sector in England and Wales will come into effect from 1 April 2011. CLG has published a Transition Plan, setting out the scope of the PSMA and plans to implement the agreement by 1 April 2011. See the Transition Plan.

Highlights of this meeting include:

• Presentation by Clemence Cleave-Doyard, Government Data Manager, The National Archives on the Transparency and Open Data Agenda
• Presentation by Chris Hill, Director, Geodata Institute, University of Southampton and Neil Pittam, Marine Data Manager, The Crown Estate on MEDIN Marine Data Policy

Meeting papers

22.07.10-APPSI-Agenda.pdf (61.4 KB)

Paper-1-Previous-APPSI-minutes.pdf (258.87 KB)

Paper-2-Transparency-and-open-data.doc.pdf (87.26 KB)

Presentation-2-Transparency-and-open-gov.pdf (486.16 KB)

Presentation-3-Medin.pdf (599.79 KB)

Paper-4-EuropeanPSIPlatform-Report.pdf (143.07 KB)

Paper-5-Review-of-Directive.pdf (338.55 KB)

Paper-6-PSI-in-Local-Gov.pdf (44.53 KB)

22-07-10-APPSI-minutes1.pdf (266.35 KB)

The Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI) today publishes its Annual Report 2009-10. The report sets out:

• the advice that the Panel gave to government in 2009-10; and its recommendations to official consultations that are central to the re-use of public sector information (PSI) agenda, including:

-    the reform of Ordnance Survey’s new business strategy
-    the response to the consultation on the transposition of the INSPIRE Directive [2007/2EC]
-    the response to Government initiatives in information policy
-    the Department of Communities and Local Government’s consultation, Policy Options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey

• the key issues emerging from policy developments which the Panel has discussed and debated at its meetings and annual seminar
• the Panel’s role in spreading knowledge and awareness of the value of PSI
• the Panel’s plans for 2010-2011 to help progress the PSI agenda and
• the costs of operating the Panel during the financial year 2009-10. 

Chair of APPSI, Professor David Rhind CBE, said:

The last year has been the most eventful and active – by far – in the saga of Public Sector Information re-use in the UK.  During the year APPSI provided much advice to Government and other organisations to make PSI more freely and readily available for re-use; our advice covered both the short and the long term. The evidence is that the Panel’s proposed solutions to long-standing issues have stimulated much activity within Government and many of them have helped shape major policy changes.  APPSI looks forward to continuing to use its collective expertise and knowledge to advise government on ways to extract public benefit from Public Sector Information.

See APPSI-Annual-Report-2009.pdf (492.24 KB)

Today, the Chair of APPSI has written to Lord McNally, Minister of State for Justice, setting out the obstacles to the successful re-use of public sector information as well as suggestions for overcoming some of these obstacles.

See: 

The Public Sector Transparency Board, which was established by the Prime Minister, met today for the first time. The Board will drive forward the Government’s transparency agenda, making it a core part of all government business and ensuring that all Whitehall departments meet the new tight deadlines set for releasing key public datasets. In addition, it is responsible for setting open data standards across the whole public sector, listening to what the public wants and then driving through the opening up of the most needed data sets. Chaired by Francis Maude, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, the other members of the Transparency Board are Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, Professor Nigel Shadbolt from Southampton University, an expert on open data, Tom Steinberg, founder of mySociety, and Dr Rufus Pollock from Cambridge University, an economist who helped found the Open Knowledge Foundation. At their first meeting they discussed some new Public Data Transparency Principles and set out a working definition of “Public Data”.

See the announcement on the data.gov.uk website for more details.

A wealth of new information about London's Tubes, buses and river services is being made available online so that web developers can use it to create products such as apps (mobile phone applications) that help passengers.  From today developers can also use the data for commercial gain without the need to get permission from Transport for London (TfL). See the announcement on the TfL website.

The Prime Minister has today launched a radical plan to open up Government data to the public.

In a letter sent to all Government departments, David Cameron has set out ambitious plans to open up data and set challenging deadlines to public bodies for the publication of information on topics including crime, hospital infections and Government spending.

The letter also announced that MySociety founder Tom Steinberg will advise ministers on the development and implementation of the transparency agenda.

Whitehall departments will begin to release new data to the public this week, starting with senior civil service salaries, MRSA infection data on a hospital-by-hospital basis and the Treasury’s COINS database of public spending.

The Centre for Technology Policy Research has today published a report entitled Open Government: Some Next Step for the UK 

This report aims to serve two purposes: to establish a more widespread understanding of the significance of open government, and to provide a clear pathway towards its delivery in the UK.

The report proposes a series of recommendations that will build momentum behind recent initiatives such as the Power of Information and the Rewired State to improve the use of public information and re-think our public services to help advance and embed the necessary cultural and technical changes required to help make open government a reality in the UK.

The Commission has today published its Digital Agenda in order to guide its legislating and policy formation activities in the next 10 years.

"We must put the interests of Europe's citizens and businesses at the forefront of the digital revolution and so maximise the potential of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to advance job creation, sustainability and social inclusion", said Commission vice president for the digital agenda Neelie Kroes. "The ambitious strategy set out today shows clearly where we need to focus our efforts in the years to come. To fully realise the potential of Europe's digital future we need the full commitment of Member States, the ICT sector and other vital economic players."

The Commission’s priorities on PSI include:

Greater release of public sector information

“Public authorities should play their part in promoting markets for online content. The challenges of convergence should be addressed in all reviews of public policy, including tax matters. For example, governments can stimulate content markets by making public sector information available on transparent, effective, non-discriminatory terms. This is an important source of potential growth in innovative online services. The re-use of these information resources has been partly harmonised, but additionally public bodies must be obliged to open up data resources for cross-border applications and services.”

Simplifying copyright clearance, management and cross-border licensing by

• enhancing the governance, transparency and pan European licensing for (online) rights management by proposing a framework Directive on collective rights management by 2010;

• creating a legal framework to facilitate the digitisation and dissemination of cultural works in Europe by proposing a Directive on orphan works by 2010, to conduct a dialogue with stakeholders with a view to further measures on out-of print works, complemented by rights information databases; and

• by 2012, review the Directive on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information, notably its scope and principles on charging for access and use.

The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have today launched their civil society programme at an event in Downing Street with community activists and leaders from around the country. The new proposals aim to create a climate that empowers local people and communities, building a big society that will “take power away from politicians and give it to people”.  The policy proposals includes a mandate to publish government data:
 
Publish government data

• We will create a new ‘right to data’ so that government-held datasets can be requested and used by the public, and then published on a regular basis.

• We will oblige the police to publish detailed local crime data statistics every month, so the public can get proper information about crime in their neighbourhoods and hold the police to account for their performance

See the full policy proposals

Government has considered the many responses to its consultation. Responses were received from a varied range of stakeholders including businesses, trade bodies, industry experts, public sector bodies and individuals involved with, or with an interest in, the UK geographic information market. A wide range of views were expressed in response to the consultation, although a clear majority (68%) of respondents agreed that at least some Ordnance Survey data should be made available for free. The consultation set out three possible options for the future of Ordnance Survey. There was no clear consensus on which policy option of those set out is the favoured one. In light of consultation responses government has decided to pursue a modified approach. This is outlined below.

Release of data for free

In response to this support, government will release a range of Ordnance Survey data and products for free on 1 April 2010, known as OS OpenData™. The datasets to be released are those set out in the original consultation document as the Free package, with the following changes:

• replacement of 1:25 000 and 1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster products with OS VectorMap District
• addition of OS Locator™ and Land-Form PANORAMA to the product list
• replacement of Code-Point by Code-Point Open, which provides accurate locations for 1.7 million postcodes in England, Scotland and Wales.

Full details of the products to be released are set out in the main body of this consultation response.

The modifications to the data to be released have been made in order to:

• meet the most important needs identified by consultation respondents
• maximise the ability to make best use of other public data released under the Making Public Data Public initiative
• reduce the impact on existing market participants, in light of consultation Feedback
• ensure that core reference information is freely available while protecting the ability of all market participants, including the Ordnance Survey, to add value
• ensure that Ordnance Survey continues to provide high-quality products and services to those customers, including government, who need them
• ensure the sustainability of Ordnance Survey paper maps
• meet affordability criteria; and
• ensure a sustainable business model for Ordnance Survey.

Public Sector Mapping Agreement

A significant number of consultation responses reinforced Ordnance Survey’s role as the national mapping agency and provider of the definitive ‘MasterMap’ of Great Britain, referencing the organisation’s unique history and high-quality data. Respondents also commented on the restrictions or complications involved in sharing data between different parts of the public sector, including between organisations involved in the different types of collective procurements. Government’s intention is therefore to move to a commercial relationship with Ordnance Survey to provide products and services to government, and, subject to discussions, the entire public sector, under a centrally funded Public Sector Mapping Agreement. Provision of a Public Sector Mapping Agreement would allow government to make geographic information provided by Ordnance Survey, including high specification OS MasterMap products, free at the point of use for public sector bodies, and subject to no limits on re-use when used internally within the public sector for public sector activities. This would cover all the definitive national datasets that the public sector needs in order to provide vital and
valuable services to the public. Subject to discussions, this change will come into effect on 1 April 2011.

Ordnance Survey Licensing

Ordnance Survey will also be proposing changes to the derived data policy for the commercial sector, including ‘Free To Use’ data, as part of its work on revised pricing and licensing. Ordnance Survey, The National Archives and the Cabinet Office will also work together to ensure that derived data issues do not unnecessarily impede the release of public datasets by other public bodies, balancing the significance of the data taken, the impact of release of any dataset on Ordnance Survey’s commercial business and that of its partners, and any legal or regulatory consequences for Ordnance Survey. This reflects concerns expressed in the consultation responses about licensing of Ordnance Survey products, and in particular derived data.

INSPIRE

Government has also asked Ordnance Survey to take on the technical delivery role of the services that are required to meet Britain’s obligations under INSPIRE, which is an EU Framework Directive seeking to introduce greater harmonisation, interoperability and wider access to public sector electronic spatial information across Europe.

See the full Government Response

Communities Secretary John Denham today announced that everyone can go to a brand new website and look at spending in any area of England simply by clicking on and scrolling over maps. At the touch of a button it will be clear to see how taxpayers money was spent locally and by which public bodies.

The new digital presentation of the Local Spending Report transfers reams and reams of inaccessible data previously locked in spreadsheets into web based formats that local people can readily interrogate and scrutinise. This includes information on funding for police, fire, health and local authorities.

Greater transparency will make it easier to look right across all the local services in an area and spot evidence of duplication or waste. It will help all local authorities to 'health check' whether public money going into the area is delivering value for money and delivering the very best services.

Alongside the new website, proposals for substantially increasing and updating the amount of information available in the next Local Spending Report are outlined in a new consultation paper released today. The consultation seeks views on the new presentation and future direction for these Reports.

The changes will help ensure local authorities are well placed to develop a Total Place approach to services by taking a fundamental look at all the money going into the area and make the most of new freedoms and flexibilities the Government is delivering to improve services whilst generating savings.

Ministers hope that freeing up this data will drive innovation and fresh thinking by providing entrepreneurs, businesses, customers, professionals and suppliers with the data they need to identify business opportunities or problems and come up with new solutions.

Excerpts of the PM’s speech, given this morning, on Building Britain’s Digital Future:

Government opening up data: the background

But now we must use this technology to open up data with the aim of providing every citizen in Britain with true ownership and accountability over the services they demand from government.

And in doing so we can put in place the best most personalised but universally accessible digital public services in the world, and harness the power of technology to economise - shaking up Whitehall and making us the most efficient, open and responsive government in the world.

Building on the outstanding work Sir Tim and Nigel Shadbolt who have been leading on ‘making public data public’, I can now announce that we are determined to go further in breaking down the walled garden of government, using technology and information to provide greater transparency on the workings of Whitehall and give everyone more say over the services they receive.

In January we launched data.gov.uk, a single, easy-to-use website to access public data. And even in the short space of time since then, the interest this initiative has attracted - globally - has been very striking. The site already has more than three thousand data sets available - and more are being added all the time. And in the past month the Office for National Statistics has opened up access for web developers to over two billion data items right down to local neighbourhood level.

The Department for Transport and the transport industry are today making available the core reference datasets that contain the precise names and co-ordinates of all 350 thousand bus stops, railway stations and airports in Britain.

Public transport timetables and real-time running information is currently owned by the operating companies. But we will work to free it up - and from today we will make it a condition of future franchises that this data will be made freely available.

Ordnance Survey free data

And following the strong support in our recent consultation, I can confirm that from 1st April, we will be making a substantial package of information held by ordnance survey freely available to the public, without restrictions on re-use. Further details on the package and government’s response to the consultation will be published by the end of March.

Doomsday book for the 21st century / consultation on ‘Public Task’

And I can also tell you today that in the autumn the Government will publish online an inventory of all non-personal datasets held by departments and arms-length bodies - a “domesday book” for the 21st century.

The programme will be managed by the National Archives and it will be overseen by a new open data board which will report on the first edition of the new domesday book by April next year. The Government will then produce its detailed proposals including how this work can be extended to the wider public sector.

To inform the continuing development of making public data public, the National Archives will produce a consultation paper on a definition of the “public task” for public data, to be published later this year.

The new domesday book will for the first time allow the public to access in one place information on each set of data including its size, source, format, content, timeliness, cost and quality. And there will be an expectation that departments will release each of these datasets, or account publicly for why they are not doing so.

Free re-use of public data

Any business or individual will be free to embed this public data in their own websites, and to use it in creative ways within their own applications.

For example, Jobcentre Plus now offers a job search widget which can be put on any other website and a similar application for mobile phones.

And independent developers are using the information we’ve published for innovative new websites and mobile phone applications such as ‘asborometer’ - built by one person in just five days. It finds your position using GPS and tells you how many people have been served with an asbo in that area. When it launched last month it was the number one free application in the iTunes store after a reported 80,000 downloads in two days.

We’re determined that government websites should be efficient and meet people’s needs - easy to find, easy to use, and fully accessible. And in our relentless drive to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the way we use websites to meet this goal, we have already closed 900 now unnecessary government websites, with plans to close nearly 500 more. And we will set new challenging standards of quality and accountability for government websites - including a requirement that each one allows feedback and engagement with citizens themselves.  From today no new website will be allowed unless it fully meets these requirements….

By the end of the year, all public service contracts over 20 thousand pounds will be available on a single, free, easy-to-use online portal, and the data will be available free of charge for others to re-use.

The full speech can be accessed on the No. 10 website

In his letter to Professor David Rhind, Chair of APPSI, Michael Wills, Minister of State for Justice says:

"I read APPSI's expert and detailed analysis of the points raised in the consultation with interest. APPSI's
response offers an informative consideration of a number of key issues..."

See Michael-Wills'-Letter-to-David-Rhind,-Chair-of-APPSI.pdf (34.43 KB)

An article, entitled How free will Ordnance Survey's maps be?  Your last chance to decide, written by Charles Arthur in the Guardian and also posted in the Tech2Crave online journal says:

But by far the most interesting is the response from the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI) – the advisory body to the government that has the same role on information as the Council on the Misuse of Drugs does on, well, drugs.

APPSI reckoned that Option 2 – making it all free – is actually the more sensible option because it’s logically “cleaner”. That’s a radical proposal.

As the UKAuthorITy.com site noted in a news story:

“The panel, which advises on policy and adjudicates in disputes over public sector licensing, says that a “free data” regime for the OS would be “the most holistic, durable and clearest solution”". However it recognises that this would be an irreversible step and agrees with the government’s inclination for a phased transition from the current trading fund model. Less complex, restrictive and expensive licensing is crucial to the success of the government’s open data initiative, it says.

“In particular, OS should not have any intellectual property rights in derived data.”

Check out Carol Tullo’s, blog “A Map for the Future?” on how government bodies can use geographical data to improve the way they work and give opinion.

Carol Tullo says:

I am glad that my starter thoughts have sparked such a varied trail - and taken in the State of Maryland en route!  It shows how debate and discussion, like content, recognise no geographical boundaries and how from my London desktop I can converse with like minded pundits in this information space with ease.  This is so different to 12 years' ago when I started to work in government information management and policy.  We now have an expert constituency that challenges constructively some of the historical constraints [real and perceived] to making things happen.  I have long been an advocate of not just explaining good practice but also of knowing what it is actually like to deliver the service and do it for real.  Only in that respect can we provide fully rounded advice that is grounded in listening to user feedback.  In the next month we anticipate a large tranche of data being released online to keep up the momentum.  It will not be a perfect solution for all no doubt, but as with this blog, it will have the advantage of airing and linking location data to a wider audience.

Michael Jennings, APPSI’s Local Government Representative says:

The Economist (27 February-5 March) has a 14 page special report on The Data Deluge. You can see the Leader article (25 February) trailing it on Economist.com, but the special report itself is only in print from at this stage. One of the eight articles in the report is entitled The Open Society (pages 10-11) and is devoted to "Governments letting in the light". It contrasts progress in the USA with here, saying the European Directive has no bite, and that Crown Copyright is an obstacle, referring specifically to OS and PAF, and the "loud complaints from businesses and activists", whilst acknowledging that "from later this year access to some parts of both data sets will be free thanks to an initiative the bring more government services online."

In the comments section after the Leader on The Data Deluge on Economist.Com, Peter Wilkinson (Director of Policy, Research & Studies at the Audit Commission) says "As a local public spending watchdog, the Audit Commission has been interested in how information can be used to improve public services for a long time. On 5 March we will publish a discussion paper called "The Truth is Out There" which explores the issues raised by the data deluge - both the opportunities and the risks - based upon international experience. It invites suggestions for how transparency of data can best be harnessed for better public services, and better value for taxpayers.

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 privatesector 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.
 
 

The Prime Minister has today outlined plans for improving frontline services while getting better value for money for the taxpayer, during a speech to the Smarter Government conference.

The announcement coincides with the publication of a paper Putting The Frontline First: Smarter Government which includes plans to cut inefficiencies and to use technology to help hospitals, schools and police forces get better value for money.  This paper will form the basis our discussion on ‘New Information Policy Developments’ at the APPSI seminar on Thursday 10 December.

Speaking directly about the information policy agenda, the PM said:

“as a result of the work of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, every citizen will from next year have access to all information on the performance of our public services showing how, and in great detail, hospitals schools and all our public services perform in your own neighbourhood - data put online during 2010 completing the process by 2011, but data there to encourage feedback and dialogue between professional and citizen…

Information is the key. An informed citizen is a powerful citizen.

We will ensure that people can get access to the information they need to engage in dialogue with public service professionals; and in doing so reduce bureaucratic burdens. This will drive improvements in public services, making them more personal and cost-effective, whilst at the same time strengthening democratic deliberation and giving frontline workers and voluntary organisations the freedom to innovate and respond to new demands in new ways.

We are determined to be among the first governments in the world to open up public information in a way that is far more accessible to the general public.

So I am grateful to Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt for leading a project to ‘make public data public’.

This has enormous potential. Already more than 1,000 active users of the internet have registered their interest in working with government on this, and we have so far made around 1,100 datasets accessible to them.

And there are many hundreds more that can be opened up - not only from central government but also from local councils, the NHS, police and education authorities.

And these must all have the opportunity for feedback and interaction, for that is where power lies for the citizen.

This increased transparency and accountability will enable citizens to compare local services, lobby for improvements, choose providers and demand changes in service delivery - with the web as a powerful new tool for sharing customer experience - in the same way that social networking sites provoke debate and discussion and mobilise opinion. Judgment on public services will no longer be the preserve of anonymous government inspectors.

Already the NHS choices website enables patients to make decisions based on reviews and other ratings.

In education, we are committed to giving all parents of secondary school pupils guaranteed online access to what their child is learning and enabling them to monitor their progress whenever is convenient for them. We will encourage schools to use text messaging to provide up-to-date information on truancy, out of school clubs and unplanned school closures.

Through the new online crime maps which went live last month - allowing for the first time everyone in the country to search by postcode for facts about crime in their area and what is being done about it - we are exploring how people can use police data on late-night incidents to help them choose the safest routes home and to post travel tips and security tip-offs for others.

And through our “tell us once” pilot, citizens no longer have to contact many different central and local government organisations with the same information. We will be rolling out that service nationally for births and deaths in 2010 and we are working with local authorities to pilot a similar tell us once service for change of addresses.

In this way people will no longer be passive recipients of services but, through dialogue and engagement, active participants - shaping, controlling and determining what is best for them.

And I can announce today that we will actively publish all public services performance data online during 2010 completing the process by 2011. Crime data, hospital costs and parts of the national pupil database will go on line in 2010. We will use this data to benchmark the best and the worst and drive better value for money.

It will have a direct effect on how we allocate resources. We will introduce next year NHS tariffs based on best practice on the ground not average price. And we will be benchmarking the whole of the prison and probation system by 2011.

And we will give our frontline services greater freedoms and flexibilities to respond innovatively to this data, reducing the number of ring fenced budgets, rationalising different central funding projects and joining-up capital funding within a local area.

Releasing data can and must unleash the innovation and entrepreneurship at which Britain excels - one of the most powerful forces of change we can harness.

When, for example, figures on London’s most dangerous roads for cyclists were published, an online map detailing where accidents happened was produced almost immediately to help cyclists avoid blackspots and reduce the numbers injured.

And after data on dentists went live, an iphone application was created to show people where the nearest surgery was to their current location.

And from April next year ordnance survey will open up information about administrative boundaries, postcode areas and mid-scale mapping.

All of this will be available for free commercial re-use, enabling people for the first time to take the material and easily turn it into applications, like fix my street or the postcode paper.

And I can further announce today that, again from next April, we will also release public transport data hitherto inaccessible or expensive and release significant underlying data for weather forecasts for free download and re-use.

See the full PM’s speech on Smarter Government and the Smarter Government Paper.  Alongside the Smarter Government paper there are also two adddtional papers which you will need to note:

• Benchmarking the Back Office: Central Government Annex A: Benchmarking data
• Operational Efficiency Programme: Asset Portfolio

This article considers the announcements at the end of last month, when the Prime Minister, Treasury Minister Liam Byrne and world-wide web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee announced that Ordnance Survey would start giving away some of its data for free.

The appointment of high-profile advisers does not signify a change of policy, says Carol Tullo, head of the Office of Public Sector Information – the regulator in this area, and the policy lead.  The difference now “is that this open data policy is at the heart of the government’s strategy – for society’s benefit and for economic benefit, to drive innovation.”

The article sets out the arguments for, and against the release of free public data. Sir Tim Berners-Lee sees it clearly as a social and economic benefit to society. He puts forward his argument on a very practical level, pointing out that “When you publish how government and public services are working you enable the public to help put them back on track, you enable the public to point out where things could be better.”  He claims that free data will change people’s lives in the same way that the internet has done.

The argument against free data is put forward  by some quasi-commercial public sector bodies that pay their way by charging for use of the data sets they collect and maintain; and the Government’s Trading Funds are also sensitive about this issue because they must make at least 50% of their income through selling the services or goods they produce.

As well as pointing to the twists and turns of the OS debate, the article asserts that the specifics  -  questions  such as what constitutes a ‘mid-scale’ map and how much central government funding will be provided to support its free distribution  -  are to be thrashed out between now and April next year.

The article can be accessed in full at: http://www.civilservicenetwork.com/features/features-article/newsarticle/mapping-the-future-2/

On 17 November 2009, the Prime Minister announced that the public will have greater access to a range of Ordnance Survey data from April 2010, as part of a Government drive to improve efficiency and transparency. The Prime Minister announced this change at a joint event with the government’s information tsar, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who is responsible for advising on freeing-up up public data, along with Nigel Shadbolt, professor of artificial intelligence at Southampton University.  

The Guardian Free Our Data Campaign reported in an article entitled Ordnance Survey Maps To Go Free Online on 17 November 2009 that the move signals a u-turn after Ordnance Survey said, earlier this year, that moving to a free model would cost between £500m and £1bn over the next five years. However, the Guardian argued that a separate study by a team at Cambridge University and commissioned by HM Treasury, found that making all OS data free would cost the government £12m and bring a net gain of £156m. 

In another article entitled OS mapping data: a new landscape unfolds on 18 November 2009, the Guardian wrote that the OS landmark decision to free up its mapping data signals that the Guardian’s Free Our Data Campaign has scored a “major victory”.  The campaign, which started in Guardian Technology in March 2006, has over the years reported various examples of companies being unable to re-use OS maps citing costs and derived data as the reason. 

The OS announcement is subject to a consultation period which begins in December 2009 so that OS customers can comment on the proposals. Sir Tim Berners-Lee said that the revised terms for use of OS maps would also remove the "derived data" problem, under which OS claims copyright on any intellectual property that is created with reference to an OS map.

On 18 November 2009, The Times published an article by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt entitled Put in your postcode, out comes the data where they talk about the benefits of free data. They wrote: “Yesterday the Prime Minister announced at a meeting with us that data from Ordnance Survey maps would be made available online free of charge. The Cabinet Office has also launched a developer’s version of a website — known as data.gov.uk — which will be publicly launched at the start of next year. It is home to more than 1,100 datasets ranging from traffic counts on the road network, through reference data on schools to the Farm Survey. More than 1,000 people are helping us to put the site through its paces. We have demonstrated that we can integrate a whole range of data about your postcode — ranging from crime statistics to recycling, from travel times and timetables to adult education and healthcare provision. We have shown that freeing data is practical and economic to do.”

APPSI’s Deputy Chairman, Peter Wienand, set out his views in an email to his fellow members following the announcement on 17 November. He wrote:

“This afternoon's announcement by the Prime Minister that Ordnance Survey (OS) will open up certain categories of map data to the public from 1 April is a potentially radical step in opening up public sector information (PSI) – see: Opening up mapping data. It is the latest twist in a debate whose outcome has, until very recently, remained clouded in uncertainty. In part, it is a tribute to the contribution that Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, has been able to make to that debate (he has been advising the UK Government since June on how to make data public sector information more accessible to the public).

It is a step that will have significant repercussions, not only in the use of mapping data and the market for geographical information systems (GIS), but potentially in the whole area of public data and its re-use.

The announcement represents a major recognition, at a time of public sector funding constraint, that OS mapping data is a critical public asset which should be made freely available, rather than licensed in return for royalty income to fund its activities. OS is one of a number of "trading funds", UK Government Departments or executive agencies which are financed in whole or in part through their own commercial activities. However, the imperative to raise money from commercial activity has created tensions between trading funds and re-users of public sector information. These tensions were highlighted in the OFT's 2006 market study, "The Commercial Use of Public Information" (see: the CUPI Study), which concluded that improvements could be made to the supply of public sector information and that, if they were, the contribution of PSI to the UK economy could be increased to a figure of at least £1 billion annually.

Another key step in the debate was the publication in 2008 of a report jointly commissioned by the UK Treasury and the then department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), "Models of Public Sector Information Provision via Trading Funds" (see: the Cambridge Study). This compared four different charging policies in terms of the cost and benefits for society, and the effects on the government revenue. Subject to various qualifications, the study concluded that the benefit to society of moving to a marginal cost regime outweighed the costs.

This was followed in turn by a review by the Shareholder Executive of the supply of public sector information by the Trading Funds. In April of this year an announcement was made in relation to the business model for OS which indicated that it would be continue to be self-funded and earn revenue by licensing its data, while making it easier for customers and other businesses to access its data and services (see: OS Business Strategy).

But today's announcement appears to envisage a more radical future than was being canvassed only six months ago. It has profound implications for OS, other trading funds, the Government and re-users (both commercial and non-commercial) of trading fund data.

It is worth noting that the data which has been identified for release is data relating to electoral and local authority boundaries, postcode areas and mid-scale digital mapping data. The highest-specification OS products and services – such as those used by property developers or the utility companies – would be charged for on a cost-reflective basis. So the move is not quite as radical as may appear at first sight.

However, it is still a significant step. Not all the practical implications of the announcement have yet been worked through. This may take some time, hence the delay of the implementation of the changes to 1 April, and OS have announced a consultation from December (see: OS consultation). In particular:

• a review of how OS is funded will be needed, possibly drawing on some of the options that were being looked at by the Shareholder Executive;
• OS licence terms will need to be redrafted and its licensing strategy re-structured; the data that is going to be released freely might be licensed under the 'Click-use' licence, for example;
• businesses that have, to date, relied on receiving the data under licence, which they have then bundled into other value-added products and services will need to consider the impact on the market and on their businesses, although since the OS data that is going to be released appears to consist of 'upstream' data the competition law implications are likely to be containable;
• other trading funds will need to review their position, as pressure for their data sets to be made freely accessible in the same way is likely to build very fast in very short order;
• the Government's governance arrangements for public sector information – at the heart of which lies the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) – will need review.

Nevertheless, while there are undoubtedly many practical implications that will need to be carefully thought through, today's announcement is a huge leap forward in terms of the release of public data for re-use by everyone from business to ordinary members of the public.”

Shane O’Neill, APPSI’s Digital Content Expert commented:

• The announcement looks to be highly significant and even (potentially) exciting!
• It is perceived as such by the private sector – three of our (private sector) clients emailed me in the past 24 hours to express what I would characterise as a carefully guarded welcome 
• That excitement is tempered by a degree of caution, formed out of:
  (a) previous experience
  (b) the OS’s website’s own cautionary response: 
   * “...The detail of this is still being worked through and a formal consultation period will begin in December to look at how these changes will be implemented. Ordnance Survey is committed to working with colleagues across government on developing these proposals...”
  *(It is interesting that the PM referred to the formal consultation – presumably the present process - being concluded in April; OS to a new one beginning in December. Which is which?)
  (c) lack of clarity re the recommendations on practical matters -  such as how OS is to manage the separation of public duty and commercial functions transparently; how it is to be sustainably funded etc. On which there is still no clarity, just the announcement of more consultation.

In summary: private sector clients and peers are saying to us:

• this statement is potentially very significant and to be welcomed, albeit with a weary sigh at the lack of detail;
• do we need another consultation (such as announced by OS above) in addition to all the ones that have taken place and are taking place at the moment?
• are OS and the Shareholder Executive on board with the Downing Street announcement?
• What are the policy decisions on the core OS related issues (core reference geographies, State Aid/PSI compliance, sustainable funding) which though difficult are well delineated, much debated and well consulted upon....?

See also Shane O’Neill Associates website for further views on the OS announcement.

John Ponting, APPSI’s Public Sector Information Expert’s initial reaction was:

“I am very pleased to see this announcement & think it is a good step in the right direction.  Clearly, a lot of detail is still to be clarified (e.g. exactly which data, the terms & conditions (including derived data issues), how Ordnance Survey will be funded), and much will depend on the details in the consultation which will begin next month, and the subsequent implementation.  Clearly APPSI needs to be ready to respond to the consultation.
 
There is a concern that legislation could be overtaken by events!  And we need the actual details - rather than the overall headline.
 
It will also be very interesting to see how far this is extended (e.g. to other Trading Funds, Environment Agency, Local Authorities, Health Sector etc).  It will also be very interesting to see what is actually included on data.gov.uk when that is released.”

Today, Professor David Rhind spoke on the re-use of public sector information for the benefit of services to the public at the Intellect Identity & Information conference. The conference was well attended by approximately 100 delegates from the private organisations such as Cable&Wireless, Consult Hyperion, Siemans IT Solutions and Getronics, as well as government departments and agencies.  The opening keynote presentation was given by Christopher Graham, Information Commissioner who talked about the challenge of the Information Commissioner's Office in delivering a balance between information security and information rights.

Christopher Graham was followed by Professor David Rhind’s talk about the importance of re-using information to stimulate innovation and drive the knowledge economy. He said that the benefits of PSI re-use

• Underpins democratic accountability (e.g. Government meeting PSA targets, local authority and CLA outcomes, NHS Trusts meeting 4 hour/18 week, MRSA targets, etc)
• Raises awareness of citizens’ rights and responsibilities
• Facilitates community activity
• Can be used to enhance efficiency e.g. tune services, allocate resources to meet real needs
• Can underpin innovation and hence create jobs and provide choice in services

Professor also asserted that an interest in making PSI more readily available has grown hugely in recent months, particularly as a result of the Making Public Data Public initiative led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt.  Despite the optimism and drive in this area, he said there are still factors that block the effective exploitation of PSI. Drawing on APPSI’s recent advice to the Shareholder Executive, Tim Berners-Lee and the Cabinet Office, he set out the recommendations for information ‘prospecting and harvesting’ in the short term and the long-term strategy to create/refine a national information infrastructure, as well as the policy changes and actions needed to facilitate successful re-use of PSI.  See David-Rhind-presentation.pdf (1.05 MB) and the Conference-Agenda.pdf (82.42 KB)

The Prime Minister has tasked Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt with making much more Public Sector Information (PSI) easily accessible over the web. In parallel, the Shareholder Executive has been studying how best to make available information from Trading Funds in a sustainable way. Both organisations have asked the government's Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI) for suggestions on how to facilitate their work. Since the two tasks interact and success will need both short and long term actions, APPSI has produced a paper entitled Exploiting government's information assets for the public good which sets out a consolidated view by the Panel of how best to proceed.

APPSI's key points are:

• The value of PSI to citizens and businesses alike is now widely recognised. The factors which block realisation of this value are no longer technological but rather cultural, policy, institutional and financial ones. We therefore warmly welcome the Making Public Data Public initiative;
• We identify areas where information 'prospecting and harvesting' would be beneficial in the short term. But we also urge that a longer term and prioritised information garnering strategy should be put in place;
• In particular, we identify some 'Core Reference Geographies' which would underpin many activities of the state, its organisations (e.g. emergency services) and businesses and urge that these are made freely available and maintained as a key part of a national information infrastructure;
• We identify some policy changes and other actions which would considerably facilitate successful re-use of PSI;
• We note that the growing use of the new technologies has major ramifications for current government policies and practice applied to Trading Funds, notably in the practicability of some forms of end user licenses.

See Exploiting-government-information-assets-for-public-good.pdf (247.54 KB)

The Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI) responded to key recommendations set out in the final Power of Information Task Force Report before the Government made its response to this report in May 2009.  APPSI's document incorporates both APPSI’s and the Government’s responses to key recommendations pertinent to APPSI’s remit.

• See APPSI-response-POI-Taskforce-Report.pdf (290.37 KB)
• See the Government's response to the Final Power of Information Task Force Report
• See the Final Power of Information Task Force Report

APPSI has learned from a letter by Councillor Ian Swithenbank CBE, Chairman of the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) to the Rt Hon John Healey MP, Minister of State for Housing and Planning that Sir Michael Scholar, Chairman of the UK Statistics Authority and Dr Tony Wright MP, Chairman of the Public Administation Select Committee have also sent letters to John Healey on the topic of a national address register.

The letter from Ian Swithenbank asserts that the IDeA and Local Government Association (LGA) are also pushing for a national address register but disputes have hampered its development. IDeA is now proposing that it has discussions at Chair and Board level with Ordnance Survey (OS) to discuss possible changes to OS's licensing terms, the processes of creating and collating address data, and the definition of OS's Public Task. The letter says that both parties have committed to an open and positive dialogue to seek solutions which should reach a conclusion by October 2009.

See Ian-Swithenbank-letter-re-national-address-register.pdf (553.22 KB)

Sir Rob Margetts, Chairman of Ordnance Survey responded to Ian Swithenbank's letter on 4 August, pointing out that OS also recognises the moves towards a single national address register, and more importantly, towards establishing this as a maintained dataset must fully take into account the funding of the costs associated with creating and maintaining a definitive, authoritative and comprehensive database. Equally importantly, any viable solution must recognise the various roles and commercial or other interests of the key players involved, including Local Government and Royal Mail, together with their commercial partners, as well as Ordnance Survey.

See Sir-Rob-Margetts-letter-to-John-Healey-MP-4-Aug-09.pdf (555.19 KB)

Today, David Rhind, Peter Wienand, Michael Nicholson, and Keith Dugmore met a group of officials from the French government including:

• Mr Alain Bodon, Inspecteur général des finances,
• Mr Maurice Sportiche, from the General Council for Industry, Energy and technology
• Mr Patrice Platel, from the Secrétariat général du gouvernement (that’s the French “Cabinet Office”)
• Miss Maud Iacomelli, policy officer at the French Embassy
• Mr Benoit Chevalier, Economic Counsellor of the Ambassador.

The purpose of the meeting was to find out about APPSI’s role and the UK’s key issues relating to the re-use of public sector information (PSI) as they are taking forward the French National Plan for Digital Economy, “France Digital 2012”, announced by the government last October, which will require policies to be put in place to enable greater access and re-use of PSI. The group was very much in listening mode and appeared interested to hear the different perspectives from the private and public sectors, issues emerging from the pricing of psi re-use in the UK, and how APPSI’s composition has helped to drive the information agenda forward. Tomorrow, this group will meet with officials from the Office of Public Sector Information.

Today, the Government published The Digital Britain Report, its strategic vision for ensuring that the UK is at the leading edge of the global digital economy. The report provides actions and recommendations to promote and protect talent and innovation in our creative industries, to modernise TV and radio frameworks and support local news, and introduces policies to maximise the social and economic benefits from digital technologies. The Report is one of the central policy commitments in the Government's Building Britain's Future plan and draft legislative programme.

Digital Britain measures include:

• A three-year National Plan to improve Digital Participation
• Universal Access to today's broadband services by 2012
• Next Generation fund for investment in tomorrow's broadband services
• Digital radio upgrade by the end of 2015
• mobile spectrum liberalisation, enhancing 3G coverage and accelerating Next Generation mobile services
• robust legal and regulatory framework to combat Digital Piracy
• support for public service content partnerships
• a revised digital remit for Channel 4
• consultation on funding options for national, regional and local news

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)

The aim of the PSI Directive was to introduce basic conditions to facilitate the re-use of PSI throughout the EU.

The review of the PSI Directive concluded that since its launch in 2003:

• Progress has been made but big barriers still exist
• Commercial re-use of PSI has been allowed
• Monopolies have been broken
• Fair trading conditions have been introduced
• Prices have been decreased
• There is more transparency

The main barriers identified by the review include:

• attempts made by public sector bodies to maximise cost recovery
• competition between public and private sectors
• practical issues hindering re-use, such as the lack of information on available PSI
• the mindset of public sector bodies failing to realise the economic potential of PSI re-use
  

The review recommends that Member States should:

• focus their efforts on full and correct implementation and application of the Directive
• terminate exclusive arrangements
• apply licensing and charging models that facilitate the availability and re-use of PSI
• ensure equal conditions for public sector bodies re-using their own documents and other re-users
• promote quick and inexpensive conflict and resolution mechanisms
  

The review says that the Commission will:

• Closely monitor implementation and application of the Directive
• Scrutinise exclusive arrangements (2009-10) in particular
• Analyse the economic case for marginal cost
• Encourage the exchange of good practices (proactive re-use policies, public tasks, conflict resolution)
• Further review by 2012, accompanied where appropriate by a proposal for amendments to the Directive.
  

See details of EC staff working document

HM Treasury published the Operational Efficiency Programme on 21 April.  This contains an announcement relating to the assessment of Trading Funds undertaken by the Shareholder Executive (part of BERR).  As you will see from Box 3.A on page 41, OPSI will provide enhanced oversight and governance to ensure the application of key principles of good practice across the Trading Funds that create significant amounts of information.  Moreover, a new business strategy for Ordnance Survey has been developed (see Box 3.H) which also will ensure easier and simpler access to high-quality information.

Ordnance Survey’s new business strategy

Ordnance Survey’s Minister, Iain Wright has announced its new business strategy today.

The strategy aims to improve ease of access to geographic data and services for both commercial and non-commercial use, whilst also striving to maintain a balance with the need to stimulate innovation in the geographic information market and make data more widely available.  This means that Ordnance Survey will continue to be self-funded and earn revenue by licensing its data, but it will make sure it is easier for customers and other businesses to access its data and services.

The strategy focuses on five key areas:

The enhanced OS OpenSpace service, the digital mapping portal that enables innovators to experiment and develop their ideas for free, will be launched on the 12 May.

The Government has set key milestones for delivery over the next year and the Shareholder Executive and OPSI, in consultation with the Office of Fair Trading, will be regularly reviewing progress. Note: The new strategy will be developed further and implemented over the coming 12 months but the five key areas above are being opened up for comment from Ordnance Survey’s customers and other stakeholders. 

The following government departments and organisations: DCLG, Shareholder Executive, Ordnance Survey, OFT and OPSI have all issued press notices announcing OS’s new business strategy.

These press notices follow up from HM Treasury's OEP announcement earlier in the week.

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)

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 .

The Power of Information Task Force has now published the final version of the Taskforce report and will be circulating this as widely as possible.

The next stage is for the government to give an official response to the report through Cabinet Office Minister Tom Watson MP.

The Free Our Data Conference on 10 February 2009 was proof that the Free Our Data campaign is now gaining cross-party support, with the cabinet minister Tom Watson and other ministers pushing for closer investigation of the benefits of making government-collected data available for wider use. Speaking at the conference, organised by the thinktank Policy Exchange, were Charles Arthur, the Guardian's Technology editor, who is a co-founder of the Free Our Data campaign; Ed Parsons, formerly the chief technology officer at OS and now a geospatial technologist at Google; Steven Feldman, a freelance geospecialist and Shane O'Neill, APPSI's Digital Content Expert.

See coverage of the Conference in the Guardian.

The Government has today published a plan to secure Britain’s place at the forefront of the global digital economy.

The Digital Britain Report underlines the importance of the communications sector, its crucial contribution to the economy and its role in building Britain’s industrial future.

The interim report contains more than 20 recommendations, including specific proposals on:

• next generation networks
• universal access to broadband 
• the creation of a second public service provider of scale
• the modernisation of wireless radio spectrum holdings
• a digital future for radio
• a new deal for digital content rights
• enhancing the digital delivery of public services

Section 3 of the interim report focuses on how digital technology has advanced the re-use of information - created opportunities for new formats and more interactive services. However, the report acknowledges that whilst digital technology promotes participation, pro-activity, and creativity, a tension exists between providing reasonable rewards for creativity, which have historically required a measure of protection for the creator's rights, and the freedom to allow that content to be re-used to enable further innovation and creativity.  Therefore, the Government will consider the debate (launched by the Intellectual Property Office) on the future of copyright in order to build a long term vision of copyright that is effective and enforceable, which will allow for innovation in platforms, devices and applications that make use of content and that response to consumers' desire to access content in the time and manner they want, allowing them to use it how they want, and at a price they are willing to pay.  By the time the final Digital Britain report is published the Government will have explored with interested parties the potential for a Rights Agency to bring industry together to

• agree how to provide incentives for legal use of copyright material
• work together to prevent unlawful use by consumers which infringes civil copyright law
• enable technical copyright-support solutions that work for both consumers and content creators.

At the same time, Government will help to deter copyright infringement online by consumers in both the short and longer term.

The full report and proposals will be unveiled in late spring.

Peter Wienand and Shane O'Neill of APPSI attended a seminar hosted by the the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) on Public Sector Intangible Assets - Unlocking the Potential, organised by UKIPO.  Peter chaired the session on 'Adding value'.  The seminar was designed to generate points to be taken into account in a paper on public sector intangibles being prepared for David Lammy, MP, Minister for Higher Education and Intellectual Property.  While the long term practical outcomes of this project are unclear, this very well-attended event involved a wide-ranging discussion, touching on such themes as public task, the value of public sector intangibles to the wider economy and society, ownership of IP versus use and distinctions between PSI and other types of intangible (such as patents).

14.01.09 Agenda.pdf (15.8 KB)

Presentations

• Chris-Jenkins,-Barriers-and-incentives-in-maximising-the-value-of-PSIAs.pdf (81.43 KB)
• Deborah-Downey,-Intangible-Value.pdf (241.65 KB)
• Iain-Laird,-Public-Sector-Intangible-Assets-Barriers-and-Incentives.pdf (113.65 KB)
• Michael-Fanning,-Public-Sector-Intangible-Assets.pdf (362.73 KB)
• Mike-Dalrymple,-Successful-translation-of-life-science-research.pdf (158.58 KB)
• Raj-Sivalingam,-public-sector-intangible-assets.pdf (82.73 KB)
• William-Perrin,-Power-of-public-information.pdf (2.06 MB)

This report is the outcome of a study undertaken by MICUS Consulting GmbH during 2008 on the behalf of the European Commission.
The report states that:

• the PSI Directive has had its strongest impact in the sector of geographical information (GI)
• 66% of GI re-users' income has increased and the market is enriched by new re-user groups which offer innovative application for GI
• 79% of private re-users would like to access more public GI, but some do not take it up, primarily because of unfavourable pricing and licensing conditions.
• 79% of holders of legal and administrative information provide their information free of charge on the internet
• since 2002 the market for legal and administrative information has grown by 40%
• in the sector of meteorological information the Directive has had little impact, even though the National Meteorological Services (NMSs) have introduced numerous changes in their data policy, only 5 of 25 NMSs have reported that they changed their data policies based on a change in their national legislation
• the market for private weather services  is growing, with 74% respondents recording a data volume download
• Re-users in all three sectors - geographical Information, legal and administrative information, and meteorological information, still complain about restrictive licensing and high prices.

Assessment of the Re-use of Public Sector Inforamtion in Geographical Information, Meteorological and Lecal Information Sectors

The European Commission has published a summary report on the results of the Review of the EC PSI Directive. The Review received 37 responses in total from a range of stakeholders including PSI content holders re-users, non-profit organisations, commercial associations, and private individuals. Many of these responses have also been published along with the report.  This report does not indicate how the Commission intends to address the issues raised by the consultation as the Commission’s Communication on the Review of the Directive is still currently under preparation. A general overview of the replies are as follows:

• Respondents have signalled that the Directive has had a positive impact on promoting PSI re-use in their respective countries by providing and establishing a legislative framework in a previously unregulated market.
• A majority of respondents say that significant barriers remain that would need to be addressed to fully exploit the PSI re-use potential in the EU.
• A majority of re-users suggest legislative amendments to the Directive to make it 'sharper' and 'tighter'.
• A majority of respondents believe that the implementation of the Directive has had very little impact on the pricing of PSI, although some exceptions have been signalled.
• The problems that have been frequently signalled are:

- lack of awareness of the potential of PSI re-use and of the Directive amongst public sector bodies, especially at regional and local level

- little effort from public sector bodies for facilitating and promoting re-use

- lack of knowledge or mechanisms to identify what information is available for re-use

- the non-mandatory requirements for PSI re-use

- strict licensing conditions imposed by public sector content holders

- the limits of the public task when public bodies commercially compete with private firms

- unfair competition practices by public sector bodies

- very limited transparency on public sector bodies' re-use policies and notably on the way charges are calculated

- the absence of efficient means of redress.

• Diverging views exist between public sector bodies (the supply side) and re-users (the demand side) on the PSI current re-use environment.
• The public sector bodies that represent the supply side believe that the Directive is working well.
• Re-users consider that the implementation of the Directive has been much too slow.
• Some respondents state that the Directive has been neither properly implemented nor applied in Member States.
• A significant number of stakeholders have expressed their support for extending the scope of the Directive to cultural, research, and broadcasting institutions.
• Respondents suggested the implementation of national asset lists / repositories and the obligation for Member States to report annually to the Commission on their actions towards promoting PSI.
• It was strongly recommended that guidance should be issued on specific terms of the Directive, e.g. the definitions of 'public tasks', 'documents', 'marginal cost pricing', and 'reasonable return on investment.'

See also the submissions to the EC Review consultation.

The UK Location Strategy has been launched by the Geographic Information Panel to tackle problems from traffic management to flooding, improved policy formulation and decision making by using better geographical information, was launched by Baroness Andrews today in a report Place Matters: The Location Strategy for the United Kingdom.

The implementation of the Location Strategy will enable better risk management and better use of resources by introducing nationwide standards and support services for cataloguing information such as crime statistics, animal movements and disease information, air and noise pollution information and traffic congestion statistics.

The UK Location Strategy aims to simplify finding and using location data so that information can be accessed speedily to enhance decision-making.

Reducing the time taken to find, view, download and use location data the Strategy will also drive down costs and increase the ability to provide better public services.

Overall central government, local councils, police, the National Health Service, firefighters and members of the public will be able to access the information they need more efficiently, more quickly and with less expense.

Today, the Government published its pre-Budget report 2008.  Paragraph 4.54 in this report is relevant to the re-use of public sector information agenda. It says:

The HM Treasury/Shareholder Executive assessment of trading funds has considered the potential for innovation and growth from increasing commercial and other use of public sector information. It will shortly publish some key principles for the re-use of this information, consider how these currently apply in each of the trading funds and how they might apply in the future, and the role of the Office of Public Sector Information in ensuring that Government policy is fully reflected in practice. For the Ordnance Survey, this will involve consideration of its underlying business model. Further details will be announced in Budget 2009.

 

A double-page coverage of the PSI Conference held on 14 October 2008 can be found in Whitehall and Westminster World today, (see pp. 4-5). 

In the article headlined 'Information Age' Carol Tullo explains how PSI could stimulate the development and growth of Europe's information industry if we free up access and remove the barriers to re-use.

The article headlined 'Calls for a duty to share info' provides highlights of the panel discussion chaired by Richard Susskind, and including David Rhind, Chair of APPSI, William Perrin, Deputy Director of Transformational Government at the Cabinet Office, and Nigel Shadbolt, Professor of Computer Science at Southampton University. 

The article headlined 'Minister trials data lab', covers the speech by Tom Watson, Minister for Transformational Government at the Cabinet Office, where he talked about the creation of a new facility to make best use of new data-management techniques, and referred to the some of the most innovative uses of public information.

This was chaired superbly by Richard Susskind: as a result, it ran to time and he teased out active contributions from the 80 or so people present. The speakers were also excellent and provocative. Carol Tullo, Head of the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) gave a wide-ranging and comprehensive introduction to PSI re-use and OPSI’s role. Thereafter, Jim Wretham (OSPI), Marcia Jackson (OPSI) and Ian Gibbs (Newham Council) led three policy workshops on different aspects of PSI and reported back the extensive debates to the plenary session.  The morning was concluded by Dr David Pullinger (Digital Policy Director at the COI) – who stood in for Michael Wills - speaking on ‘Service transformation and the re-use of PSI’.  In effect he described very clearly the creation of a national information infrastructure built on Web 2.0 concepts.

After lunch, Tom Watson, the newly promoted Cabinet Office Minister for Transformational Government, gave a bravura performance on what had to change. 

Thereafter, a panel of three answered questions from the audience, prompted and fired up by Richard Susskind. William Perrin (Deputy Director of Strategy and Policy, Transformational Government, Cabinet Office) argued forcefully that radical change towards a personalisation of services was both necessary for achieving government’s aims on transformational government and was readily possible.  Nigel Shadbolt, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Southampton University, articulated the benefits of contemporary web technology and likely developments plus their relevance to our objectives. David Rhind, Chair of APPSI spoke briefly about the contents of the APPSI letter to Michael Wills, the example of how government statistics (notably but not solely the £500m Population Census) were distributed free to all, and the issue of public trust in information where judgement was very much involved in interpretation of such information based on sampling or professional judgement, the results from which were highly politically sensitive. Important contributions from the floor were made by Chris Corbin and Shane O’Neil, amongst others.

Richard Allen (Chair of the Power of Information Task Force) followed with his own bravura performance, covering much of the ground he did when speaking to APPSI about the work of the Power of Information Taskforce. His leitmotif was ‘cumulative innovation in a knowledge economy’ and he spoke on four topics: information discovery, legal factors, commercial exploitation and challenges for the future. Some 450 entries had been received for the ‘Show Us a Better Way’ competition, two-thirds of which involved use of geospatial/geographic information or data.

The final session was a novel one with 10 minute lightening talks by each of four contributors. The first was by Javier Hernandez-Ros, the Head of the Digital Libraries and Public Sector Information Unit in the EC DG for Information Society and Media.  He started from the viewpoint that PSI was owned not by a state bureaucracy but by the populace/taxpayer. He pointed out, in response to the comment that we were all awaiting the outcome of the EC review of the Re-Use Directive, that at least one country in the EU had made re-use mandatory and so could the UK.  Christine Gifford, member of APPSI gave a barnstorming performance about the lack of present engagement in PSI from the Health Service, Gavin Starks described a commercial project  with the modest aim of creating ‘ a neutral aggregation platform to measure and track all the energy data on Earth’ which had been put together by four people working part-time and yet which already had a million footprints. Finally Brian Collins, the Chief Scientific Advisor at DfT, described the National Transport Information Incubator. This is a public/private consortium to foster innovation in bringing information in useful form to travellers. From idea to availability as a service is mandated to be less than three weeks. He stressed the importance of technology to constrain re-purposing of information wherever appropriate and the use of open standards; the final report is on the DfT website.

Conclusions: The contributions were first class, the issues addressed were important ones and there was much enthusiasm that the ‘forces of darkness’ would be overcome!  The audience left cheered and confident that the world could be made a better place through the power of information.

The conference will be profiled in a forthcoming edition of Whitehall and Westminster World.

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 EC Directive on the re-use of public sector information was adopted on 17 November 2003. It regulates the behaviour of public sector bodies when they act in the market by trading information (e.g. geographical, statistical or meteorological data) or making it available for re-use.

In the UK, the implementation of the Directive resulted in legislation for the re-use of PSI: The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005 .

The purpose of the EC consultation on the EC Directive (2008) is to gather information from Member States on their views on different aspects related to the implementation, impact and scope of the Directive.  The results of this consultation will feed into the debate regarding the review of the Directive.  The consultation closes in September 2008.

To inform the review of the Directive, APPSI has answered the EC’s consultation questions by drawing on its report to the EC.

APPSI Submission to the European Commission (Word - 256 KB)

APPSI’s response to the EC’s questionnaire on the Review of the PSI Directive (PDF - 184 KB)

The majority view within APPSI is that:

• with certain explicit exceptions, Public Sector Bodies (PSBs) should be required to make PSI available for re-use;
• Public Sector information (PSI) originally created as part of the public task of a PSB or integral to the discharge of a public function should be within the scope of the Directive;
• high level EC policy guidance should be provided on interpretation of the concept of ‘public task’ and the UK government should create and operate a public process for its definition and periodic review; the process should include provision for public consultation and challenge;
• the scope of the exclusion of documents in which third parties own intellectual property rights should be clarified, so as to bring within the scope of the Directive documents (i.) where the third party is another EU public sector body; (ii) documents containing re-usable content that is not protected by the third party rights; and (iii) documents where the third party has licensed the document for re-use;
• EC guidance be provided to give much greater encouragement in the Directive for adoption of a marginal cost regime (for most documents), and clarification provided as to whether, and the extent to which, the costs that can be re-charged to re-users should relate to the documents in question or to documents in general; and also that guidance be provided on the principles that should apply to the calculation of costs, following best practice in Member States. The bulk of the APPSI members urge the UK government to move to a marginal cost pricing model for PSI;
• wherever exclusive arrangements remain, a justification should be published, and that all information about exclusive arrangements should appear in one place;
• the UK government should launch an awareness-raising campaign on the merits of PSI re-use.