19th February 2025
The submission from the UK Open Government Network (UK OGN) to the House of Commons Modernisation Committee has been published and it available to view here. The Modernisation Committee was set up to ‘consider reforms to House of Commons procedures, standards, and working practices.’ The House of Commons Modernisation Committee has today launched a call…
11th December 2024
On Wednesday 4th December, representatives of the Northern Ireland Open Government Network briefed the Committee for Finance at the Northern Ireland Assembly on the current precarious state of Open Government in Northern Ireland. They included Rebekah McCabe (Chair), Colm Burns, and Andrew Bolster. The open remarks prepared by the Chair can be read here and…
9th October 2024
The immediate response to reject any future clothing donations was a missed opportunity by the government. This issue around ‘freebies’ is an uncomfortable one, but it highlights a critical function of our democratic system: politicians making disclosures, and journalists holding them accountable in the public interest. A more strategic approach would have been to embrace…
9th October 2024
Ben Worthy and Michele Crepaz dig into the Labour gifts row, saying that while Starmer may not have broken any rules the story creates difficulties for the PM. They suggest that reforms to the ethics system need to be visible to shift public perceptions. Keir Starmer is in trouble over lobbying. Following a drumbeat of…
30th July 2024
Lobbying is a vital part of democracy but the perceived connection between money and politics has damaged UK politics since the 1990s. Over the last few years, there have been a slew of damaging high-profile lobbying stories, including the then Prime Minister not properly declaring interests, and one MP claiming to manipulate the rules to keep hospitality secret.…
14th June 2024
But the real question may be whether politicians trust us. In the first episode of Yes Minister in 1980, newly appointed Minister Jim Hacker sought to introduce a policy of Open Government to ‘take the nation into our confidence.’ He failed, of course, with his artful Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey musing that citizens have a…
28th March 2024
I recently attended a workshop on governing new and emerging digital technologies, organised by the Open Government Partnership, in Nairobi, Kenya. Over the first 1.5 days we had the great privilege to hear from civil society and government presenters from across 11 countries about current digital governance actions, agendas and challenges.Then our focus turned to…
8th March 2024
From one point of view, the UK has been through an openness revolution. We take all this data for granted in 2024 but it’s important to remember what a difference it makes. If you wanted to find out, it was quite difficult. To take a very basic measure of democracy, if you wanted to find…
7th November 2023
Anyone who knows me will tell you I love teamwork. As I take on the role of Chair of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Scotland Steering Group, I do so seeing OGP as the ultimate in policy teamwork. And I am delighted that all five of our thematic working groups (Financial Transparency, Data and Digital,…
7th November 2023
As I hand over the chair of the Scottish Open Government Network (to the estimable Juliet Swann – read more from her here), it is a good moment to pause for reflection on what is now a journey of nearly a decade. The Open Government Partnership was founded in 2011 (now famously as one of…