The UK Multi-Stakeholder Forum for Open Government is a joint endeavour of civil society and government that works to promote the principles of transparency, accountability and public participation in an effort to ensure policy and implementation are well-informed.
The UK’s early development of the concept and implementation of open government can be traced back to at least the 1993 Open Government White Paper, which stated in its opening line that “Open government is part of an effective democracy.”
As part of its journey to promote open government at home and abroad, the UK became a founding member of the Open Government Partnership and endorsed the Open Government Declaration in September 2011. Since this time, the UK has regularly developed commitments which form its National Action Plans for Open Government (NAP) on a regular basis through a process of co-creation between civil society and government.
The UK Multi-Stakeholder Forum for Open Government (MSF) exists to promote the principles of transparency, accountability and public participation across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. As part of this, the co-creation and implementation of the UK’s National Action Plans for Open Government are overseen by the UK MSF. Whilst the focus is the pursuit of openness of His Majesty’s Government (HMG), the UK MSF also seeks to promote open government across all levels of government within the UK, as well as abroad.
The UK MSF has four goals:
The UK MSF aims to conduct its work through collaboration between civil society and government representatives. It is a forum to share ideas, oversee the co-creation and implementation processes, raise concerns, and highlight successes.
Both civil society and government are responsible for its successful operation, which is dependent on trust, mutual respect and developing a shared understanding of issues.
The government-of-the-day is formed through democratic processes, and government policy is ultimately the responsibility of ministers who form that government. The MSF is a mechanism for a diverse and inclusive civil society to offer the government the benefit of its insight in an effort to ensure policy and implementation is well-informed.
The MSF is best able to make progress when civil society and government focus on developing areas of common interest, whilst both parties recognise the need for constructive challenge of each other.
The MSF is empowered to make decisions regarding the framework for the NAP through a process of mutual agreement between civil society and government representatives.
The UK MSF will be conducted under the Chatham House Rule to encourage open discussion, although key remarks from co-chairs and briefings by the secretariat will routinely name individuals in those roles for transparency purposes.
The secretariat should ensure agendas and supporting papers are circulated at least a week in advance of an MSF to allow members time to prepare. The secretariat will strive to improve the accessibility of all material.
Virtual participation is the norm, but sometimes in-person components may be desirable.
The secretariat should ensure read-outs of each MSF are made available within a week of the MSF taking place.
The UK MSF will routinely meet on a quarterly basis, with the potential for additional sessions if the need arises.
The Data Strategy and Standards Directorate in the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), part of the Cabinet Office, will provide the MSF’s secretariat. It will provide support to the
co-chairs in managing the agenda, arrange meetings, and ensure readouts of each meeting are posted in good time.
The secretariat can be contacted at: [email protected]
The membership of the UK MSF aims for a broadly equal number of representatives from civil society and government. It will be co-chaired by lead representatives from civil society and government working together, supported by the secretariat. The responsible government minister will be invited to co-chair the MSF.
Primary membership of the MSF:
Representatives from other levels of government should be routinely invited, such as from the devolved nations and from local government.
All representatives to the MSF should have sufficient availability to prepare for, attend, and where appropriate follow-up on actions for each of the quarterly MSF meetings.
As the membership of the MSF varies over time, its composition should be transparent and be publicly available, but the individuals involved need not be specifically named. The attendees for each meeting will not be specified, in line with operating under the Chatham House Rule.
Non-members may be invited to attend specific meetings, such as to provide information or as observers.
The UK MSF provides a focal point for promoting open government across the UK. This can be most effective if the MSF brings together a wider range of networks with different interests and focus.
Participation of civil society is vital in pursuing open government and takes two main forms.
TSGs enable sustained engagement between civil society and government to develop a theme of public policy over time, and should operate under similar principles to the UK MSF.
TSGs should have their own publicly available Terms of Reference, which should include its membership and how people can become members.
In the interests of transparency and accountability, members of the MSF should declare if they have a conflict of interest on any topic of discussion ahead of it being discussed. The MSF should consider whether or not it is appropriate for a conflicted member to remain during discussions relevant to their interest.
Unlike previous terms of reference for the UK MSF, these are not specific to a particular iteration of the National Action Plans for Open Government. These terms of reference should be annually reviewed to ensure they remain relevant.
Key acronyms which are routinely used include:
| Acronym | Definition |
| OG | Open government: the principles of transparency, accountability and public participation |
| HMG | His Majesty’s Government, the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
| UK OGN | UK Open Government Civil Society Network |
| MSF | Multi-Stakeholder Forum for Open Government |
| TSG | Thematic Stakeholder Group |
| NAP | National Action Plan for Open Government |