Foreward to the Power of Information Taskforce Final Report

When Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg’s ‘Power of Information review‘ was published in 2007 it rapidly became apparent that this was a significant contribution to thinking about the ways in which government has to adapt itself to a world in which most people regularly use the internet.

The creation of the Task Force in 2008 was part of a series of positive responses by Government to the report. Over the last 9 months, the Task Force has attempted to develop further the agenda set out in the report. The recommendations in this report should therefore be read alongside those in the original report on which they build.

The Taskforce brought together a group from government, industry and the third sector who all share a passion for using ICT to enable better public service delivery.

All members have contributed in a personal capacity rather than on behalf of their respective organisations and this independence of approach is reflected in our conclusions.

The group has itself worked largely through web 2.0 tools - communicating as a web group, publishing our progress via a blog and RSS feed, and producing this draft report on a wiki.

We have been able to:

• Demonstrate significant latent capacity in the community for innovative information-based applications through the ShowUsABetterWay competition; 
   
• Raise further the profile of the Power of Information agenda through engagement with central and local government, industry and civil society;

• Contribute to the public and internal government debates around access to UK geospatial data;

• Build links with people working on similar agendas in other countries for the mutual exchange of ideas and expertise;

• Support the creation of social media guidance for civil servants;

• Examine the usability of key government websites and commission new guidance based on the output of our study;

• Experiment with using modern web publishing tools for data that is currently published using traditional methods;

• Develop a model for an architecture for government websites that better supports content re-use;

• Begin work on the concept of a repository for government information.

We recognise that many people both inside and outside government have been working over several years on projects which provide a sound ‘proof of concept’ for the use of web 2.0 technologies for public service purposes.

The Taskforce believes it has made a further contribution to this body of work. Yet, we are still some way from being able to assert that the public services are making as full a use as possible of the potential offered by evolving internet technologies.

We believe that with this learning from many sources informing our actions, we have the opportunity now to take some major steps forward in making this part of the mainstream of public service activity.

Our recommendations describe the key actions that we believe Government can take in the short to medium term to realise this opportunity and we look forward positively to the debate and responses that they generate.

Richard Allan, Taskforce Chair


Executive Summary

This report has been produced shortly after Lord Carter’s interim report on Digital Britain. The Taskforce’s recommendations affect the things people do with the broadband networks that are the major focus of Digital Britain.

The report calls for action in six areas where the Taskforce believes significant improvements can be made to government’s use of digital technologies:

• enhancing Digital Britons’ online experience by providing expert help from the public sector online where people seek it;

• creating a capability for the UK public sector to work with both internal and external innovators;

• improving the way government consults with the public;

• freeing up the UK’s mapping and address data for use in new services;

• ensuring that public sector information is made as simple as possible for people to find and use;

• building capacity in the UK public sector to take advantage of the opportunities offered by digital technologies.

Millions of people in Britain regularly seek help online in public about their daily lives. The report explains how the public sector can and should help people online in the places they go to seek help.

In the extended UK public sector, the BBC has a world leading model for innovation in its ‘backstage’ service which encourages people to innovate in remarkable ways with the BBC’s data and services. The report recommends that UK central government should create such a ‘backstage’ capability to unlock the huge innovation potential of the government’s information.

Digital communications technologies clearly offer the potential for new methods of consultation around government policy. The report sets out a set of immediate measures that could be taken to start taking advantage of this potential. The process of producing this report has itself followed this new schema for consultation.

Data and information are the lifeblood of the knowledge economy. The report’s recommendations on liberalising non-personal government information would provide an information stimulus if implemented.

The report refers specifically to the need for a more liberal approach to the re-use of mapping and address data in the UK based on the evident demand for this type of information. It makes recommendations for Ordnance Survey, the UK’s official mapping agency, to free up their licensing regime in general and to make information available for free on simple terms for innovators and the third sector.

If data is to be truly useful for a broad range of innovators it must be easy to obtain and the terms under which it can be used have to be as open and intelligible as possible. The report therefore recommends actions on the cataloguing of public sector information and on government licensing terms, especially in respect of the most common government licensing scheme, Crown Copyright.

Finally, the Taskforce recognises that when mainstreaming any innovation, systemic culture and behaviour change is required. It believes firmly that now is the time for the innovative approaches that it recommends to be brought into the mainstream of UK government. The report therefore calls for action to help the public sector to acquire the new skills and practices required to support this.


Acknowledgements

The Taskforce would like to thank all those who have contributed to its work and in particular the secretariat who were drawn from the Cabinet Office, Central Office of Information and the Office of Public Sector Information, part of the National Archives. Many other people inside and outside government have actively contributed by commenting on the blog and beta report and by taking part in various Taskforce activities. You know who you are – please take a * bow *. And we are encouraging the use of #poit as a tag for Taskforce related material on the web so we can all keep contributing