27th October 2015
I’m writing this having just got off the plane that took to the Open Government Partnership Summit in Mexico. It’s never a good sign when the person next to you spots what you are writing and decides to challenge you on how useless democracy is. How money has corrupted democracy and it is just a…
15th October 2015
The Campaign for Freedom of Information and ARTICLE 19 are holding a briefing meeting for NGOs and media organisations on the consultation paper published by the Commission on Freedom of Information. The consultation suggests the Commission is considering sweeping changes to restrict the FOI Act, including: imposing charges for requests making it easier to refuse…
13th October 2015
The Campaign for Freedom of Information, an OGN member, published the following press release in response to the Commission on Freedom of Information’s call for evidence. Sweeping restrictions to the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act are being considered by the body set up to consider the legislation, according to the Campaign for Freedom of Information.…
12th October 2015
In August, members of the UK Open Government Network wrote to Matthew Hancock, Minister for the Cabinet Office, to express concern at recent developments that threaten the Freedom of Information Act. Last week we received the following response from the Minister:
9th October 2015
Those of us who work in improving governance, and challenging government to be more open and accountable, can sometimes overlook the fact that most people don’t see the world through the prism that we do. When we talk about making government more transparent, or accountable, or participatory, sometimes we don’t tell the story about why…
9th October 2015
The Commission on Freedom of Information, established by the Government in July 2015, has launched its call for evidence. In August, the Open Government Network wrote to the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Matthew Hancock, expressing our concern with the Commission’s remit. The Commission states that it will be particularly focused on the following questions: Question 1:…
7th October 2015
Dr Andy Williamson, who sits on the UK OGN Steering Group, blogs on the third NAP, collaboration and the tricky business of culture change The UK is in the process of developing its third National Action Plan (NAP) as part of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which comes with a strong civil society commitment and…
7th October 2015
Website Diginomica covers the launch of the Open Government Manifesto It’s hard pin down the UK’s progress and commitment to creating an open and accountable government. On the one hand it is somewhat of a trailblazer, having set the agenda by being one of the founding members of the Open Government Partnership – an international…
1st October 2015
The UK government was a founding member of the Open Government Partnership back in 2011, and since then has worked with a growing Open Government Network of civil society activists towards becoming more transparent, accountable and participatory. When the government first joined the international initiative, only a few actors from civil society were involved in…
1st October 2015
Today we are pleased to launch the Open Government Manifesto. Based on a ten month project to source the best open government ideas from citizens and civil society across the UK, the manifesto puts forward key proposals for commitments for the UK’s new OGP National Action Plan. Through a series of workshops around the country…