27th September 2013
This article was originally posted on the Open Government Partnership blog: http://blog.opengovpartnership.org/2013/09/analysis-of-the-uk-irm-report-2/ [line] The UK is now deep into the detail of developing the commitments which will form its second National Action Plan. This will be published at the Annual Summit at the end of October. The release of the IRM report on the first Plan is…
9th August 2013
The Open Government Partnership summit in London is gaining momentum, as evidenced by the growing engagement from civil society organisations. The OGP is reaching an important milestone, with the closure of its first cycle of country commitments and independent assessments. The summit will be an inclusive space where governments can announce inspiring projects and collaborate…
31st July 2013
The UK Government has just launched a BETA version of a new tool for interrogating government spending called GIST – Government Interrogating Spending Tool: http://www.gist.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ A press release by the Cabinet Office states that: A powerful new online tool which presents taxpayers with an unprecedented view of how their money is spent was launched today by Cabinet Office Minister…
31st July 2013
The Open Government Partnership has just launched a pre-registration page for the OGP Summit being held in London on 31 October and 1 November 2013. For more information and to register, follow this link: http://www.opengovpartnership.org/news/do-not-miss-2013-ogp-summit-pre-register-now
19th July 2013
When David Cameron said in 2010 that lobbying was ‘the next scandal waiting to happen’ he was both right and wrong. Right because it is an area which is ripe for scandal – a potentially unsavoury mix of money, power, politics and special interests. Wrong because by the time he said it, the scandal was…
18th July 2013
Sciencewise-ERC – the UK’s national centre for public dialogue in policy making involving science and technology issues – has published a review of public views on the topic of open data over the past five years, available here: http://www.sciencewise-erc.org.uk/cms/public-views-on-open-data/ Here’s the executive summary: The report provides an analysis of key messages and trends; and gives an overview of possible…
17th July 2013
Today (17 July 2013) the Coalition Government published the “Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill“, which sets out its plans for a “lobbying register”. On the face-of-it, this should be a positive step on a critical aspect of open government: making it transparent who influences government’s decisions. But the devil – as…
15th July 2013
As lead co-chair of the Open Government Partnership this year, the UK will be hosting the OGP’s Annual Summit in London on 31 October and 1 November. To help to build the programme, the organisers have launched a call for proposals for ideas of sessions. Here’s what they say: In just over 3 months around 1000…
12th July 2013
Yesterday (11 July 2013) brought revelations that two major private providers of public services, G4S and Serco, may have been overcharging the Ministry of Justice on contracts to electronically tag offenders to the tune of the “low tens of millions” of pounds. The Guardian reported that: “Whitehall sources say that a new forensic audit will…
10th July 2013
This was taken from an email sent by Paul Maassen (OGP Civil Society Coordinator) to civil society organisations engaged in the OGP around the world. Just before the summer starts I wanted to make sure that all of you have these dates in your agendas. The OGP Annual Summit will take place on October 31 and…