Expectations of transparency and open data Gesche Schmid Programme Manager Transparency, LGA

Local Transparency –transparency fosters greater accountability and democracy –ready access and meaningful use of open data drives sector led improvement and greater productivity empowers communities, citizens and businesses stimulates innovation and economic growth The pace of the transition from closed to open data is based on local needs and demand Local government supports a presumption in favour of transparency and open data because:

What the government says Open data and information drive technology-led economic growth. Estimated £ 1.8 bn direct value to the economy and another £ 5 bn of indirect benefits (DeLoitte Marketstudy 2013). –promote the smart use of information technology and data in UK business in particular supporting SMEs –ensure that citizens benefit from the digital age and are able to use digital service confidently. Thriving information economy relies on –public sector information to be easily and openly accessible and interoperable based on standards (Cabinet office to develop National Information Infrastructure and Data action plan) –A workforce that have the skill to make use of the data (BIS to develop data capability strategy)

Legal and Policy Drivers to Open Data Legal Driver: –FOI and Protection of Freedoms Act release of datasets for reuse –INSPIRE: regulation for accessing geospatial data Government Policy Drivers –Open data white paper: Unleashing the potential –Government department open data strategies –National Information Infrastructure –Open Government Partnership: Data Charter –Information Economy and Data Capability Local policy drivers: –Improving Local Government Transparency: Code of practice for local government on transparency –Localism: public service reform, empowering communities

INSPIRE regulation Publish spatial datasets that are within scope of 34 legally defined themes Provide catalogues that allow users to identify what information is available (2011/13) Provide online services - discovery, view, download and transform (to enable data interoperability) (2012/13) Comply with data specifications - (2015/2020) Have licensing arrangements that allow information to be shared Set up e-commerce arrangements where charging is applicable

What is open? Open Data Careful sharing of data Closed data The vast majority of government data will be published as open data and available through Dataportals such as data.gov.uk Where it is not possible to publish data as open data, Government will explore opportunities to share this safely across Government Departments and where appropriate with relevant outside organisations in “sandbox” / “datalab” environments Data remains secure and is not shared outside a particular government department or agency Reasons could include: Privacy National security Some commercial information

Open Data Charter Open Data principles: –Open Data by Default –Quality and Quantity –Useable by All –Releasing Data for Improved Governance –Releasing Data for Innovation Technical commitment –use robust and consistent metadata –And others….

Government Response to Shakespeare Review set out a three pronged approach to releasing further open data National Information Infrastructure Make explicit the main departmental data through the ‘National Information Infrastructure’ Data requests Maintain and strengthen the bottom-up approach we already have in place via ODUG and Data.gov.uk which allows data businesses and others to request particular datasets which are crucial to their business Central release Continue to press centrally for the release of particular ad-hoc datasets that provide the opportunity for transformational benefits for UK citizens, even if these would struggle to be defined as the main datasets from within each Government department.

Criteria for a National Information Infrastructure Economic Growth If open, could it stimulate growth in the UK economy? Is it being requested by business? Would it enable more efficient functioning of markets and reduce the cost of living for citizens? Social growth Is it requested by campaigning groups? If open, would it help stimulate volunteering and self-help? Could it aid in promoting social development and change? Effective public services Which data are fundamental to the operation of each department? Could it be used to hold government to account? If open, could it aid the efficiency of public services and the running of government? Could it aid the public in making choices about which public services to use? Is the government the sole owner of this information, or is uniquely well placed to provide the data? Connective reference data If open would it aid in connecting and unlocking the potential of other data sets? Other key data Is it considered to have broad importance outside the above criteria?

Open Data User Group to help government understand the requirements of people who are using, or could use, the datasets it collects. advises Data Transparency Board on key dataset requests –Develops business cases for key data requests submitted on data.gov.uk Local government data requests for making data more easily and openly accessible and available to a consistent format

Local Government Transparency Code DCLG published recommended code of practice for local government on transparency in 2011 Expects from local government to publish a range of open data free of charge including –spending over £ 500; contracts and tenders; grants to voluntary, community and social enterprise sector; senior salaries; location of public assets; information relating to the democratic running of an authority DCLG consulted in 2012 to make the code mandatory and to add further datasets such as parking revenues, area of controlled parking and trade union facilities Government response to consultation expected autumn 2013

Sector-led approach encourage a more meaningful approach to the release of open data with the emphasis on a sector-led approach to improvement and innovation. –Local Transparency programme managed by the Local Government Association (LGA) –Local Open Data Group to promote a common local data infrastructure and local domain on data.gov.uk –Local government open data breakthrough programme funded by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) –

Local transparency Open by default (Vision Redbridge) Closed data is dead data (Future Cities) “There are only two types of data in Bristol City Council: confidential data which we can’t share, and open data which will be made available.” Councillor Mark Wright, Bristol Used within public sector to transform services –Self assessment and self service(community budgets). –Sharing of Insight Make data open so that it can be reused by citizen, business, community groups, –Apps, location analysis, commissioning, engagement with communities £ 70 million value in efficiency savings through the better use of public sector information in local government alone

Local open data infrastructure Activities: developing and promoting common standards, classifications and taxonomies where they do not already exist (esd toolkit) Local Government data and information service (LG Inform) for making data about a local authority area open and place them into meaningful context BIS-funded Open Data Breakthrough Fund, local open data projects (develop and sharing of standards and best practice) Practical and technical guidance developed by LGA and LeGSB which sets out some of the principles for publishing and linking data. through the Smart Cities programme, promoting the use of common standards for the intelligent use of data for operating city environments more effectively and efficiently (LeGSB lead) developing a local domain on data.gov.uk to provide a common focal point for sharing and promoting local open data, common standards, apps and initiatives

Breakthrough programme £ 1 million grant funding for local authorities for 2013/14 to enable open data release and ease of access to open data to –help groups of councils overcome particular technical barriers in opening up data so that the data can be more easily used in onward applications, tools and services –managed by LGA on behalf of BIS. –Over 30 applications: 12 successful projects –Promoting standards and good practice in opening up data. –Call for further applications 5 November 2013

Open Data Breakthrough Projects Cambridgeshire County Council - Cambridgeshire Insight Open Data: Stimulating Economic Growth and Encouraging Innovation. Cheshire East Council - URIs for natural neighbourhoods Devon County Council - Local Government Community Data – opportunities for localities and businesses* Hampshire County Council - Linked Open Data Planning Register Kent County Council - Local government legal and business guidance as open data Leeds City Council - development of the West Yorkshire Observatory* Lancashire County Council - Lancashire Local Information Service (LIS) Project Leicester City Council -The automation of the publishing of Open Data and internal MI data in a standard, machine readable, linked format Peterborough City Council - Index of open data sets to aid comparison across councils. Redbridge Council - DataShare City of York Council - York Open Data – Empowering communities to access services Barnet London Borough - Barnet Data Store* * To be confirmed

Services supporting Local transparency and open data Local Transparency: LG Inform: Esd toolkit: LeGSB: