Public Consultation 'Will Usher In A New Era'

The Government has launched a consultation on open data asking the public "How should Government become even more open?"

The online consultation launched today follows a letter to cabinet colleagues last month from Prime Minister David Cameron where he said transparency could be a “powerful tool to reform public services, foster innovation and empower citizens”.

The consultation invites views on a number of issues including enhancing a “right to data”; setting transparency standards; holding public service providers to account; making the public sector more open; and whether there is a role for government to stimulate enterprise and market making using open data.

Francis Maude said the Government’s plans to make more data publicly available will usher in a new era of “Freedom of Information 2.0″.

Ms Maude said: “The UK Government is determined to have the most ambitious open data agenda of any government in the world. We demonstrated that ambition recently through the Prime Minister’s open letter. But we want to embed this approach throughout the public service and we want to hear from people about how they think we should do this.

“It is an incredibly brave step for any government to become this open, but this is the approach we want to take in order to create public accountability and efficiency in our services and to drive economic and social growth.”

Francis Maude together with Business Minister Edward Davey have also today launched a public consultation on data policy for a Public Data Corporation.

The Public Data Corporation will, for the first time, bring together Government bodies and data and provide more freely available data at the point of use, year on year within the constraints of affordability. Supporting the Government’s growth agenda, it will open up opportunities for innovative developers, businesses and members of the public to generate social and economic growth through the use of data.

(BMcN/GK)