Public data corporation delay
The one-stop shop for the UK’s government data is delayed, as the pros, cons and costs are weighed up.
Government data from across the UK public sector are to be available in one place later this year, if a public data corporation gets the go ahead. The organisation was to be launched in April but ministers and officials are still discussing its purpose.
Intellectual property and data protection are reserved matters, with Westminster setting policy for the whole UK.
The March Budget states that the UK Government is “considering the merits of machinery of government changes to facilitate the development of a Public Data Corporation (PDC) through a sponsoring department.”
If approval is granted, a shadow board will be set up and the Government will create an inventory of datasets from key organisations. The Cabinet Office will draw up a policy on data access and licensing by the autumn, which suggests that September is the earliest possible launch date.
Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude is enthusiastic.
“We have entered a new era of transparency in government and have already made an unprecedented level of data available,” he said in January. “But we want to go further and faster. This agenda is more important than ever.”
Government’s role, in his view, was to help people maximise the benefits of new technology. Citizens can use data to develop internet applications, plan ahead in their businesses, and identify ways to run public services more efficiently.
However, as agendaNi reported in February, data release does have financial risks. The Met Office and Companies House are ‘trading funds’ and therefore take their income from sales. Back in 2009, the Ordnance Survey in Great Britain opposed plans to release its data for free. The Government therefore agreed to subsidise the organisation in return for the release. The same problem would arise if the Land and Property Services Agency’s data were released.
Trading fund revenues total over £250 million. Less revenue could affect the quality of research which, in turn, could mean a lower quality product. This carries real dangers in mapping and weather forecasting.
Maude acknowledged that many state agencies “face a conflict between maximising revenues from the sale of data and making the data freely available to be exploited for social and economic gain.” He claimed that the corporation “will enable the conflicts at the least to be managed consistently with a view to opening up access, and at best to be eliminated.”
The Shareholder Executive, which represents UK Government-owned businesses, is working with the Cabinet Office on the plans and is likely to ask for restricted access to commercially sensitive data. Security is another obvious factor to consider.
It is not yet clear how much Northern Ireland data will be made available but the principle is already established.
www.data.gov.uk (launched under Labour in January 2010) includes 1,277 data sets referring to the province.
A total of 135 apps can be downloaded from the site. One example is airTEXT, which sends a free text message, voicemail or email to Londoners when air pollution rises. This is designed to help residents suffering from asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, heart disease or angina.
