News 2nd April 2013

Consulting on the Self Assessment

by TimDavies

As part of the Open Government Partnership process each country must carry out a self-assessment against it’s National Action Plan, ahead of the independent review mechanism providing a view on that plan. The UK Government has now produced it’s self-assessment, and it is available linked below for comments. As the team from Cabinet Office explain:

Today, almost two years since the UK’s initial involvement and the official launch of the OGP in New York, we are publishing the self-assessment report on the UK National Action Plan, originally published in September 2011.

Back in the spring of 2011, the UK Government was one of the founding members of the OGP, sharing the excitement of being in at the start of a new global movement anddiscussing how best to shape it. Around the world, there were clear signs of a growing appetite for openness in government that had to be satisfied: we had to take action and be part of the movement or be left behind. We wanted the OGP to be a voluntary initiative, but participating countries had to demonstrate real commitment to change and make a difference. The national action plans are the living proof of governments’ desire to become more accountable to their citizens and in this way, earn their place in the partnership.

The first UK Action Plan was drafted in the very early days of the OGP, when we and our partners were still clarifying the scope of civil society engagement, implementation periods, reviewing mechanisms and so on. So much has happened since, and this report is an honest account of the UK’s performance to date and how much our agenda has evolved.

The consultation will remain open for two working weeks until 15 April. A final report will be published on 19 April. The Independent Reporting Mechanism will use this material to conduct their own review. Please read the report and post your comments. Although we anticipate that people may have different views, our commitment to listen and engage is genuine and it is this approach that has been guiding the ongoing work to develop the new national action plan, which we expect to publish at the end of October.

Three sections of the Self-Assessment are posted for comment using CrocDoc – which allows you to annotate each document with notes and feedback. The aim of allowing inviting feedback is to:

  • Identify commitments that it will be important to keep in the next action plan;
  • Provide the Independent Reporting Mechanism with a more exhaustive picture of our progress, to assist the experts that will develop the UK report.

View the documents on Gov.uk, or read the commentable versions below to share your thoughts: