- The Guardian, Thursday 24 July 2008
Coastal Devon allows its data to be reproduced for free
If you live in Guildford, Harlow or Leicester, commiserations. Your local authority is among those to admit openly that it has no plans to make data it collects available for use by citizens or businesses. Such reluctance is not unusual. A new survey of 426 county, district and metropolitan borough councils in England and Wales suggests that well over half have not taken the first basic step to freeing their data.
While local data laggards are acting within the letter of the rules, their stance is at odds with central government's policy. Under present law, there is not much Whitehall can do about it, however.
Dodging obligations
Local councils are responsible for maintaining potentially valuable databases about their environment, population and economic activity. Keith Dugmore, a demographics data expert, says that much of this data is potentially valuable. "It would be great to have a central portal, and also aggregate statistics." Many of the most interesting entries in the Power of Information taskforce's competition, at Showusabetterway.com, involve information held by local councils, ranging from parking offences to rubbish collections.
The snag is that unlike central government agencies, local authorities own the copyright in the data they collect, and can choose whom they make it available to and on what terms. For the past three years, central government's Office of Public Sector Information has tried to promote openness by encouraging them to adopt 2005 regulations supposed to ensure fair trade in data, and the "Click-Use" licensing scheme for making it available. In its annual report published on Tuesday it says spreading awareness in local government is "a key challenge".
However, a comprehensive survey by John Gray, a specialist consultant and a member of the government's Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI), suggests this voluntary approach has failed. For the past three years, he has asked every local authority in England and Wales what steps they have taken to comply with the regulations. Of the 319 who responded to the latest survey, 260 said they had not yet prepared a register of information assets. Only 20% had adopted "Click-Use" licenses.
Several authorities have made a formal policy declaration not to comply and some simply say they do not make data available for re-use. Middlesbrough's freedom of information officer said it had not compiled an asset register because "we do not allow re-use". Guildford, Harlow and Leicester took similar decisions.
One problem is a loophole in the law. The 2005 regulations enforcing fair trade in information apply only to public bodies that allow re-use. A public body can dodge these obligations by simply refusing to make data available.
Gray has some sympathy for the councils, which have received no funding to make data available, but says that such a policy is short-sighted.
Not future-proof
Political pressure is mounting for a change in policy. Earlier this year, David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said a future Tory government would require local authorities to publish information about the services they provide, council meetings and how councillors vote online in a standardised format: "That way, it can be collected and used by the public and third party groups." He proposed funding the move by easing the rules that force councils to publish statutory notices in local newspapers.
The government is making similar noises. The "Communities in control" white paper published last week describes access to information as "a prerequisite to community empowerment". It commends authorities such as Devon county council for its "very liberal position" on allowing data to be reproduced free of charge. "We want information on services to be truly local," the white paper says - but offers neither carrots nor sticks to make it work.
Both the government and APPSI are calling for tougher European-wide laws requiring public bodies to make data available freely, but such changes would take years to filter through. In the meantime, the Free Our Data campaign recommends moving to Devon.
· Join the debate at the Free Our Data blog freeourdata.org.uk/blog