The Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice, Michael Wills, is pleased to announce the re-appointment of Peter Wienand as APPSI Deputy Chair, until 31 March 2011.

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

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.”

Guardian Free Our Data: … and APPSI comes out Swinging [11 March 2010]

The government’s Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information has come out with a strong response to the OS consultation.
Headline points: look at the picture, not just at OS, resolve the “fundamental contradictions” in information policy and move towards a free data regime. “In particular, OS should not have any intellectual property rights in derived data.”
Oh, and sort out the “national scandal” of the lack of a comprehensive free address register.
It’s a good read.

See Guardian posting

Lack of address register a national scandal, say government advisers [11 March 2010]

The development of a freely available national address register is "long overdue", the government's official advisers on public sector information said this week. In its response to the consultation on the future of Ordnance Survey (OS) the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information says, "It is a national scandal that we do not have a definitive single National Address Register when most of the components have long resided in the public sector."

Read the rest of this news article

APPSI's Annual Report covers the work of the Panel from April 2008 to March 2009, and sets out some priorities for the future.  The key highlights of the report include:

• the advice that the Panel gave to Michael Wills, Minister of State for Justice in 2008; and its recommendations to official consultations that are central to the re-use of public sector information (PSI) agenda;
• the key issues emerging from policy developments which the Panel has discussed and debated at its meetings and annual seminar;
• the work undertaken by specific members of the Panel in reviewing APPSI's complaints review function; and
• the Panel's role in spreading knowledge and awareness of the value of PSI.

APPSI-Annual_Report-2008-09.pdf (1.48 MB)

Press Release for APPSI Annual Report 2008-09

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.

Today, the Minister of State for Justice Michael Wills announced the appointment of four new members of the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information. See press release for further details.

APPSI-Press-Release.pdf (60.62 KB)

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.

APPSI's annual report 2007 highlights:

• the marked increase across government in the level of interest and debate in the re-use of public sector information (PSI);
• the increase of public awareness of the issues surrounding re-use and recent coverage in the press;
• APPSI’s paper to Ministers in October 2007 which outlined the need for a Government strategy on the re-use of public sector information, with proposals for the short and medium term;
• APPSI’s responses to important Government studies and consultations:

            - the Office of Fair Trading Market study on the Commercial Use of Public Information
            - the Cabinet Office’s Power of Information Review

• the stepping down of the Chair, Professor Richard Susskind OBE at the end of April 2008, and the appointment of the new Chair, Professor David Rhind CBE.

APPSI's annual report 2007 (PDF - 3.12 MB)

Press Release for APPSI annual report 2007 (PDF - 131 KB)

Today, Professor David Rhind CBE takes up the Chair of APPSI.

Professor Rhind replaces Professor Richard Susskind, OBE who was Chair of APPSI from 2003.

See press release for further details of Professor Rhind's appointment.

Professor Rhind brings the following experience and expertise to APPSI:

Professor David Rhind is a Non-Executive Director of the Bank of England and of the UK Statistical Authority; he is also Chairman of the Socio-Economic Committee of the Nuclear Decommissiong Authority and a Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation. He was Chairman of the Statistics Commission until March 2008. Until July 2007, he was Vice-Chancellor of the City University, London and before that he was Director General of Ordnance Survey Great Britain. Awarded the CBE in 2001 for services to social and geographical sciences, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society and an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy. He is the author of various books and numerous academic papers.

Today, the Minister of State for Justice, Michael Wills MP announced the appointment of Professor David Rhind, CBE as the new Chair of APPSI. 

Professor Rhind replaces Professor Richard Susskind, OBE who was Chair of APPSI from April 2003-April 2008.

See press release for further details.

The Minister of State for Justice, Michael Wills MP today announced the appointment of eight new members of the advisory panel on public sector information.

See press release for further details.

Today, APPSI published its 2006 annual report.  The 2006 report

• offers broad support for the recent merger between The National Archives and the Office of Public Sector Information
• welcomes APPSI's relocation, as an NDPD, from the Cabinet Office to the Department of Constitutional Affairs
• stresses the importance of the recent OFT Market Study on the Commercial Use of Public Information
• provides a summary of APPSI's response to Trasnformation Government
• provides a series of 16 short case studies that highlight how public sector information can be re-used.

See press release for further details.

See 2006 APPS annual report.