2016-18 Open Government Action Plan: December 2016 Commitment Progress Updates
Update of progress on 2016-18 Open Government Action Plan commitments prepared by the UK Government. Originally published on the Open Government Partnership website. A Word [.docx] version of this update is available here.
Commitment 1: Beneficial ownership |
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| Commitment | We will establish a public register of company beneficial ownership information for foreign companies who already own or buy property in the UK, or who bid on UK central government contracts. | |||
| Lead department(s) |
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy |
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| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | mySociety, Natural Resource Governance Institute, ONE, Publish What You Pay UK, The Open Data Institute, Transparency International UK | |||
| Timeline | May 2016 to April 2018 | |||
| Overall commitment status | On track | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | The Government remains committed to delivering this policy and is currently developing the detail of how the register will work prior to issuing a call for evidence in the coming months. We plan to bring forward legislation on the register when Parliamentary time allows.
The UK is leading the world in corporate transparency. This is a position that the UK Government is rightly proud of, but it also means that legislating in this area is novel and complex as no other countries have attempted a register of this nature before. The proposal is that the register will apply across the UK. This is important to ensure that control of companies owning land is transparent wherever in the UK the land is. However, Scotland and Northern Ireland have different land registration requirements to England and Wales. This makes the drafting of the legislation more complex. The Government therefore believes it is important to spend time to get the policy and its implementation correct and to consult on the policy before legislating. |
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| Progress against milestones / activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. The intention is to consult by the end of the year | May 2016 | March 2017 | We are currently developing the detail of how the policy will work, before issuing a call for evidence in the coming months. | On track |
| 2. Introduce primary legislation in the third Parliamentary session | May 2017 | April 2018 | Policy development is progressing, and we plan to bring forward legislation on the register when Parliamentary time allows. | On track |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 2: Natural resource transparency |
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| Commitment | We will work with others to enhance company disclosure regarding payments to government for the sale of oil, gas and minerals, complementing our commitment to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and implementation of EU Directives, and explore the scope for a common global reporting standard. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, HM Treasury, Financial Conduct Authority and Department for International Development | |||
| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | Global Witness, Natural Resource Governance Institute, ONE, Oxfam, Publish What You Pay | |||
| Timeline | May 2016 to March 2018 | |||
| Overall commitment status | On track | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | There has been good progress across all three milestones. We have started the preparatory work gathering the information needed to prepare the second EITI report, and discussions are underway on how to take forward the dialogue on increased transparency around sales of oil, gas and minerals. | |||
| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. UK to publish second EITI report by 15 April 2017 and commence validation to become EITI compliant | May 2016 | April 2017 | Work is underway on the second report. Extractives and mining companies within scope have been contacted for their information. This is now being reconciled. We expect to issue the UK’s second EITI report by the due date.
On 25 October 2016 the EITI Board agreed a revised validation schedule for all implementing countries. The UK is now scheduled to commence validation by July 2018. |
On track |
| 2. UK listed extractive companies will be required to publish data under the EU transparency amending directive in an open and accessible format | April 2017 | March 2018 | The FCA has updated its rules to require those companies filing extractives reports under their Transparency Directive to comply with a reporting format that is open and accessible.
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On track |
| 3. Agree terms of reference for the dialogue on increased transparency around sales of oil, gas and minerals | May 2016 | December 2016 | All countries that made commitments on this issue at the London Anti-Corruption Summit were invited to participate in follow up discussions regarding next steps. From these discussions there was general consensus that the dialogue should be hosted by an international institution such as the OECD. Preliminary discussions have been held with OECD as the potential host and convenor. DFID is leading on drafting the terms of reference, working closely with the Natural Resource Governance Institute and others.
Alongside the Swiss government, the UK (DFID) made a financial contribution to EITI for a targeted effort on transparency in commodity trading in Nigeria. |
On track |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 3: Anti-Corruption Strategy |
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| Commitment | To develop, in consultation with civil society, and publish a new Anti-Corruption Strategy ensuring accountability to Parliament on progress of implementation. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Cabinet Office and Home Office | |||
| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | Bond Anti-Corruption Group (ARTICLE 19, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Corruption Watch, Global Witness, Integrity Action, ONE, Public Concern at Work, The Corner House, Transparency International UK), Campaign for Freedom of Information, International Budget Partnership, mySociety, Natural Resource Governance Institute, Publish What You Pay UK | |||
| Report date | May 2016 to June 2018 | |||
| Overall commitment status | Behind schedule | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | Following the Anti-Corruption Summit in May 2016, we have held wide-ranging and detailed stakeholder engagement sessions with civil society, business and departments and agencies across government. We are now engaged in preparing and drafting the strategy document and establishing clearance processes.
Publication has slipped into 2017, due to the wider UK government changes in the second half of this year. |
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| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. To consult with civil society on the content of and publish a UK Anti-Corruption Strategy | May 2016 | November 2016 | We have held a series of stakeholder engagement sessions over the summer with expert groups in civil society, business, and government departments and agencies. These have included two rounds of engagement with civil society, and smaller meetings focusing in greater depth on specific issues. We have received several written submissions from civil society, and will be drawing on these, as well as civil society evidence submitted to the Phase 4 OECD review, as we work up the final strategy. The recently reconfirmed Anti-Corruption Champion has also resumed engagement with civil society organisations.
We will continue to engage civil society as the strategy is developed, and following publication. We are now working on preparing and signing off the strategy document. The overall timeline to final publication has slipped into 2017, due to the wider UK government changes in the second half of this year. |
Consultation stage – on track
Publication stage – behind schedule |
| 2. To publish progress against actions within the Strategy | November 2016 | January 2018 | We will regularly publish progress against actions within the Strategy following its publication. The strategy will include a section on monitoring and reporting on progress. | On track |
| 3. To introduce a mechanism allowing greater Parliamentary scrutiny of anti-corruption work | May 2016 | June 2018 | We are consulting on what this mechanism will look like. The monitoring and progress reporting section of the Strategy will include detail on how we will ensure greater Parliamentary scrutiny of anti-corruption work. | On track |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 4: Anti-Corruption Innovation Hub |
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| Commitment | We will incubate an Anti-Corruption Innovation Hub to connect social innovators, technology experts and data scientists with law enforcement, business and civil society to collaborate on innovative approaches to anti-corruption. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Cabinet Office (Government Digital Service) | |||
| Other actors involved | Several countries have expressed interest in participating in the Hub: Switzerland, Indonesia, Spain, Georgia, UAE, Australia, Norway and France. The Omidyar Network will provide support to the Hub. In addition Thomson Reuters, Vodafone and Transparency International UK have also expressed interest in working with the UK during the incubation phase. | |||
| Timeline | May 2016 to May 2017 | |||
| Overall commitment status | On track | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | We have made progress over the six months, and will put the Hub into operation in early 2017. A wide group of external stakeholders including business, civil society and researchers have been engaged, and the UK will continue to drive the Hub forward. | |||
| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. Establish Innovation Hub | June 2016 | September 2016 | An internal paper has been prepared identifying existing technological developments to tackle corruption. A range of external interested parties and information sources have been engaged. Omidyar Network will fund a consultant and prepare a job specification.
Initial terms of reference for the Innovation Hub have been established which set out purpose and scope.
The Cabinet Office have been working to establish the Hub over the summer. Parties who have expressed interest in participating in the Innovation Hub met for the first time on 14th July. A second meeting took place on 23 November 2016 and agreed on the broad vision for the Hub in 2017. |
Significant progress |
| 2. Showcase examples of innovative approaches to tackling corruption at the 2016 OGP Summit in Paris in December 2016 | December 2016 | December 2016 | We will be highlighting the progress made by the Hub and discussing examples of innovative approaches at the OGP Summit. | On track |
| 3. Operationalise Innovation Hub | December 2016 | May 2017 | Work will begin in December and early 2017. This will be delivered by a consultant funded by the Omidyar Network and the open government team in GDS. | On track |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 5: Open contracting |
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| Commitment | To implement the Open Contracting Data Standard in the Crown Commercial Service’s operations by October 2016; we will also begin applying this approach to major infrastructure projects, starting with High Speed Two, and rolling out OCDS across government thereafter. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Crown Commercial Service | |||
| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | ARTICLE 19, CAFOD, Campaign for Freedom of Information, NCVO, Open Contracting Partnership, The Open Data Institute | |||
| Timeline | May 2016 to June 2018 | |||
| Overall commitment status | Completed | |||
| Overall progress against commitment |
UK Government has set up a Showcase and Learning Project with the Open Contracting Partnership in relation to the implementation of the Open Contracting Data Standard to the Crown Commercial Service (CCS)’s operations.
CCS data from Contracts Finder will be published in the OCDS format covering the procurement process from alerting the market to future CCS opportunities, to early engagement, to advert and award including publication of the associated contract and tender documents.
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| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. Open Contracting Data Standard to be implemented on Crown Commercial Service procurement | May 2016 | October 2016 | The updated Contracts Finder is now available after a delay, with data available in the OCDS format. Data from Contracts Finder is available on data.gov.uk and APIs have been set up so the data from Contracts Finder can be queried.
For HS2, October saw the end to the current manual data entry, replaced by automatic output of data to Contracts Finder. From November 2016, HS2 are able to directly output all contract information without manual entry from its chosen E-sourcing platform to Contracts Finder in an OCDS compliant format. This is a significant process improvement. |
Completed |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 6: Grants data |
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| Commitment | Government plans to collect more granular data on grant making. This will be in line with the 360 Giving Standard. In addition, the Grants Efficiency Programme in the Cabinet Office will publish more granular level data on Government Grants Expenditure at a scheme and award level. The quantity and type of data provided publicly will be determined following consultation and agreement with the data providers. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Cabinet Office | |||
| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | 360Giving, NCVO, The Open Data Institute | |||
| Timeline | May 2016 to March 2018 | |||
| Overall commitment status | On track | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | As part of the Grants Efficiency Function, we have designed and built the Government Grants Information System (GGIS). We have been working with departments to upload more granular level data onto the GGIS since its launch in March 2016. We have made good progress with departments and we are on track to have a majority of expected data uploaded by April 2017. The GGIS was designed to collect and share data internally to government however we remain committed to publish better quality and more granular data in 2017. | |||
| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. Collate granular level data on grant schemes and grant awards on the GGIS | May 2016 | March 2017 | The GGIS has now been established and we are in the process of working with departments and arm’s-length bodies in uploading data on grant schemes and awards. | On track |
| 2. Publish more granular data sourced from the GGIS on grant schemes and grant awards (the quantity and the type of data provided will be dependent on agreements with the data owners, ie government departments) | May 2017 | March 2018 | Focus is currently on gathering and improving the quality of data. We remain committed to publish more granular data sourced from the GGIS by March 2017. | On track |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 7: Elections data |
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| Commitment | Working with interested parties from government, Parliament and civil society, we will develop a common data standard for reporting election results in the UK faster and more efficiently, and develop a plan to support electoral administrators to voluntarily adopt the standard. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Local Government Association | |||
| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | Democracy Club, Democratic Audit, Democratise, LGiU, mySociety, The Open Data Institute | |||
| Timeline | May 2016 to June 2018 | |||
| Overall commitment status | On track | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | Project has made good progress to date and is broadly on track. During the six month period, there has been wide and open consultation with public and private elections and data experts to develop a first version of a new data standard that is published but not yet deployed. We have secured participation and commitment from key stakeholders to support the initiative and to extend their tools, services and promotion channels to encourage take-up next year. Stakeholders include: Electoral Commission, Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA), LGA, UK Parliament Information Services, academic groups, civic society democracy groups, electoral system suppliers. Local authorities have limited capacity and resources and are unlikely to be able to participate unless the process can be made simple. Progress now depends on introducing new import and export processes to commercial electoral systems. Suppliers have indicated willingness to participate but require modest funding to be available to underwrite their development costs. This funding has not been identified. |
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| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. Develop a draft schema and publishing process for consideration, refinement and agreement by interested parties – particularly data publishers, election management system (EMS) suppliers, data consumers | March 2016 | May 2017 | Two rounds of open consultations with interested user groups and public sector publisher and governance groups have taken place in Feb-May 2016 and Aug-Oct 2016.
Detailed technical meetings have taken place with Electoral Commission, senior representatives from the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA),
This has resulted in the latest version of the elections results data specification which has the support of all groups online here: http://e-sd.org/vgTJ3
The key outcomes from the two consultations are summarised in online documents here: Consultation No1 (Spring 2016) – http://e-sd.org/fmcAY. Consultation No2 (Autumn 2016) – http://e-sd.org/Rsr9V.
We have commitment from Electoral Commission to support and extend additional online resources to their data systems for this work in 2017. We have support from the AEA to assist in promotion, rollout and initial trials in 2017 when we are ready to progress. We have a general promise from most EMS suppliers to remain involved and monitor the emerging specification for additional features needed within their systems to support data export in the appropriate form. These developments require funding and this has not yet been resourced from any interested party. |
On track |
| 2. Use the draft data standard for real by gathering local elections results as they are announced | May 2016 | June 2018 | Not yet scheduled to begin. | On track |
| 3. Develop guidance materials and a support programme to assist Election Services Departments to participate | June 2016 | May 2017 | A documented specification document has been prepared here: http://e-sd.org/vgTJ3
eLearning modules to define the preferred approach to publishing all local
government open data have been launched here: http://e-sd.org/zDImh
Work is yet to begin with Electoral Commission and AEA to develop a support and promotional campaign and will soon be behind schedule. This work awaits funding to progress the additional tools in the EMS systems in order to provide the necessary tools to the local Electoral Administration Departments. |
On track |
| 4. Data consumer groups to trial early use of the standard – even to the extent of manually re-working published data into the standard themselves to demonstrate benefits | May 2016 | May 2017 | This work has not yet commenced officially but is likely to move forward more rapidly once EMS systems have been extended to support the new data specification.
Leeds City Council has manually reformatted existing data into the standard for review and early assessment. This is available online for download as a simple csv spreadsheet form here: |
On track |
| 5. Adoption by the suppliers of EMS systems to provide auto-extraction of local election content into the standard format | October 2016 | June 2018 | EMS suppliers have attended meetings, participated in open discussion forums and indicated interest to become involved but have not yet been issued with a detailed specification against which to respond as the open consultation has just recently completed. They have attended meetings and have contributed to the consultations. We now need to work with suppliers to establish how this work can be delivered. | Behind schedule |
| 7. Develop online data search, validation, harvesting and aggregation tools to assemble local data into combined regional and national elections results register | October 2016 | June 2018 | Not yet scheduled to begin. | On track |
| 8. Encourage an initial pilot of local authorities to trial data output in the standard form – using May 2016 local election results. Aim for 20-30 participants | May 2016 | May 2017 | This is a stretching goal and progress is slower than expected. Leeds Council are trailing an initial pilot. | Behind schedule |
| 9. Encourage wider take up of the process in the 2017 local elections. Aim for 100-120 participants | May 2016 | May 2017 | Not yet scheduled to begin. | On track |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 8: Enhanced transparency requirements and revised Freedom of Information Act Code of Practice |
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| Commitment | To increase transparency and improve the operation of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in the public interest. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Cabinet Office | |||
| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | 360Giving, ARTICLE 19, Campaign for Freedom of Information, mySociety, The Open Data Institute, Transparency International UK | |||
| Timeline | July 2016 to December 2016 | |||
| Overall commitment status | Ongoing | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | Work is underway on the scope and content of a new section 45 Code of Practice. | |||
| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. Enhanced transparency measures, including statistics on the operation of the FOI Act and data about senior pay and benefits | July 2016 | December 2016 | Guidance to be included, subject to outcome of public consultation, in the Code of Practice. | Ongoing |
| 2. Consult on and issue new FOI Code of Practice | July 2016 | December 2016 | Following current work on its scope and content, we intend that a draft Code of Practice will be issued for public consultation by early 2017. | Ongoing |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 9: Identifying and publishing core data assets |
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| Commitment | We will create a high quality national information infrastructure, making government data more secure and easier to find, store and access. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Cabinet Office (Government Digital Service) | |||
| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | mySociety, The Open Data Institute | |||
| Timeline | May 2016 to June 2018 | |||
| Overall commitment status | On track | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | Good progress, in particular work developing a linked system of canonical datastores (registers). Building on the success of the country register, other registers at different stages of development include schools in England, territories and addresses. | |||
| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. Create a register of the fields used within canonical registers to ensure consistency of nomenclature | January 2016 | June 2018 | We currently maintain field, datatype and register registers for each environment/phase in the register creation process to ensure the consistency of naming and usage of these things. For instance, the field beta register contains the names of all fields that can be used in beta registers, and currently this is fewer than the fields that can be used in alpha registers because we have more alpha registers being modelled. Managing the fields, datatype and register registers in this way allows us to change and update them as registers evolving throughout the process before moving to the more stable beta register. | On track |
| 2. Create a linked ecosystem of trusted, resilient and accessible canonical data stores (known as registers), starting with data categories for which the user need is greatest (countries, local authorities, schools and companies) and implementing these during the period of this action plan | February 2016 | June 2018 | Our first register, the country register, is already being used by a number of services, such as the e-petition service. We have also released the register of local authorities in England to beta, and the territory register to alpha. A number of registers are currently in discovery, including the register of schools in England. GDS is also currently supporting the work of the devolved Welsh, Scottish and Northern governments in defining their approaches to registers and looking to help deliver their respective registers of local authorities and schools. We recently discussed our approach to prioritising registers in the pipeline to help maximise the value we’re delivering. | On track |
| 3. Through a technical working group, adopt existing and define and agree new common and, where possible, open data standards and approaches based on user needs | February 2016 | Ongoing | The open standards board is reviewing open standards based on user needs. There is an open standards hub where open data standards can be suggested. On 24 November two new open standards for government were agreed: the International Aid Transparency Initiative Standard and the Open Contracting Data Standard, bringing the total number of open data standards to fourteen. | On track |
| 4. Explore options for the creation of an open address register underpinned by an open and authoritative identifier to enable anyone to cite or find a property or premises in the UK | March 2016 | Ongoing | We will continue to explore options for the creation of an open address register underpinned by an open and authoritative identifier to enable anyone to cite or find a property or premises in the UK. | On track |
| 5. Develop a better understanding of the data discovery needs of internal and external users of government data, to evolve data.gov.uk and inform the development of data discovery tools and services, with refreshed tools implemented during the period of this action plan | April 2016 | June 2018 | We have carried out qualitative lab based user research with existing government data publishers and end users of open government data to understand how a) publishers curate and and manage their open data and b) end users of data find and determine the usefulness and purpose of datasets. This will inform the development of the UK government data catalogue and its data publication functions to encourage more effective management of data assets. | On track |
| 6. Report on the effects on the UK data infrastructure of any actions to change the ownership or contract out the operation of key public registers | May 2016 | June 2018 | The vast majority of key registers are in public ownership. The intellectual property rights to some address data were placed in the private sector with the sale of Royal Mail in 2013. HMG announced in Budget 2016 that it would develop options for the creation of an open address register.
In Autumn Statement 2016, the Government announced that it would transform the Land Registry into a more digital, data-driven organisation within the public sector, having previously consulted on a potential sale. |
On track |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 10: Involving data users in shaping the future of open data |
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| Commitment | We will ensure government’s work to modernise and improve the management, use and availability of data assets is informed by active and wide-ranging collaboration with current and potential data users. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Cabinet Office (Government Digital Service) | |||
| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | mySociety, The Open Data Institute | |||
| Timeline | May 2016 to June 2018 | |||
| Overall commitment status | On track | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | A positive and solid start building on existing contacts and developing new ones to improve the management and use of data assets. To support these activities, GDS has appointed a full time open data engagement lead. | |||
| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. Develop a strong, ongoing and collaborative conversation with data users across sectors and specialisms, particularly through working groups and meet-ups on specific aspects of the government data agenda, to inform and challenge the Government Data Programme | May 2016 | June 2018 | The data.gov.uk team have run a survey to generate more insights on the users of the website and their needs.
Representatives from the Data Programme attend user group meetings organised by government departments: in this period the Department of Work and Pensions Open Data group (18/11/16); plus meetings of the Census and Demographics User Group (20/09/16)
Four members of the Data Programme attended the annual ODI summit (01/11/16) to interact with hundreds of members of the data community. |
On track |
| 2. Ensure government policy and the Government Data Programme is informed and challenged by leading external thinkers through an active Data Steering Group | November 2015 | June 2018 | The Data Steering Group has met three times this year (as of 21 November 2016) including one joint session with the cross-government Data Leaders Network. | On track |
| 3. Develop our partnership with the Open Data Institute to help government connect with data businesses, innovators and civil society | November 2015 | June 2018 | Ongoing – we engage regularly with ODI as well as other external users of government data. | On track |
| 4. Build cross-government engagement and leadership on data management and open data, and publish plans for departmental engagement with data users and new open data commitments, through a cross-government Data Leaders Network | November 2015 | June 2018 |
In September 2016 the Cabinet Office announced that the DWP Digital Academy Service will move to GDS to build capability across government and give GDS a national presence.
A cross-government Data Leaders Network has met monthly since the publication of the NAP, and the development of new open data commitments and engagement mechanisms is ongoing. |
On track |
| 5. Maintain active and wide-ranging engagement with civil society groups to ensure the Government Data Programme supports better data access and use for smaller civil society organisations | May 2016 | June 2018 |
Attendance at community events, for example: Demographic User Group Conference (13/10/16) Parliament Data Workshop (20/10/16) Mozfest (29/10/16) HacktoberFest (24/10/16); Teacamp (03/11/16); Accountability Hack (19-20/11/16); ThingCamp2 (09/11/16).
Meetings of the Open Government Implementation Group, comprising Government and the Open Government Network (OGN), were held in July and October following the release of the UK’s third National Action Plan in May 2016. The Group will continue to meet quarterly. These are opportunities for civil society to challenge government on the implementation of the National Action Plan, and discuss new commitments. In addition in November 2016 there was a further meeting between Government and the OGN to prepare for the Open Government Partnership Summit in Paris in December 2016.
GDS’s new open data engagement lead started in August 2016. |
On track |
| 6. Maintain regular updates on the government’s open data policies online through blog posts and social media – allowing users to interact with these policies as they develop and post suggestions for improvements | May 2016 | June 2018 | As part of Cabinet Office’s ongoing work on open data, we use the Data in Government blog to show progress and to help illustrate the meaning and purpose of open data to a wider audience. This year that has included a summary of the UK’s involvement in OGP meetings and a guest post on the use of the internet in developing effective open government policies. The blog currently has around 150 regular subscribers as well as more casual readers, and work is underway to understand more about this audience, build upon it, and make interaction more regular and effective.
Both the blog and Cabinet Office and GDS’ core social media channels, including Twitter and Linkedin, are enabling an ongoing explanation of work to improve data.gov.uk. This includes discussing changes to the site’s homepage and highlighting interesting new data sets, as well as encouraging more users to come forward and give their views on the site’s overall usability. This has helped in identifying more of data.gov.uk’s core users, which in turn has supported ongoing improvement work. |
On track |
| 7. Explore further channels with which to engage users on open data issues, such as the Open Government Forum, Google Communities or Slack – these would have the advantage of real time discussion and problem solving, as well as a more direct link between government and data users | May 2016 | June 2018 | We have tested using Hackpad to discuss the data request process on data.gov.uk. We are members of Slack channels including localgovdigital.slack.com, opendatacommunity.slack and governmentdigital.slack which have wide ranging membership.
We have regularly have used Twitter (#ODChallenges) to ask for information on the challenges using government data. |
On track |
| 8. Engage with citizens, civil society, private and public sectors to develop an ethical framework for the use of data science techniques in government, including through public engagement events and an interactive online engagement tool | November 2015 | July 2016 | Government has published an ethical framework for the use of data science techniques in government, and we will continue to iterate and improve it in collaboration with data users across government and society. | Completed |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 11: Better use of data assets |
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| Commitment | We will encourage and support data-driven techniques in policy and service delivery across government departments and encourage the better use of open data in the economy and civil society. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Cabinet Office (Government Digital Service) and Office of National Statistics | |||
| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | Democratise, The Open Data institute | |||
| Timeline | May 2016 to June 2018 | |||
| Overall commitment status | Generally on track | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | Generally good progress, for example in developing the skills of government data analysts and in assisting general policy and operational staff across government to understand analytical approaches. However, machinery of government changes in the summer have led to delays in publishing departmental data plans. | |||
| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. Pursue legislative changes to enable better access to government data for defined purposes across organisational boundaries in public services and between different levels of government working with internal and external experts and consulting with the public at key stages | February 2016 | June 2018 | The Digital Economy Bill is currently before Parliament. The Bill completed its Committee stage on 1 November 2016. | On track |
| 2. Publish departmental data plans for improving data quality, opening up more data and ensuring continuing engagement with external stakeholders | May 2016 | October 2016 | We are in the process of determining how departments will meet this National Action Plan milestone, and will confirm progress in our next progress update. | Behind schedule |
| 3. Monitor and publish progress against departmental data plans | October 2016 | June 2018 | These are dependent on milestone two being completed. | Behind schedule |
| 4. Help non-data specialist policy and operational staff across government to understand analytical approaches and the transformational power of data | April 2016 | June 2018 | Continuing to work through a number of fora (such as the EDS working level commissioning board, GDS show & tells, Policy Lab departmental workshops) to demonstrate the value of data projects to address policy and operational objectives through the application of advanced analytics, machine learning approaches, and data visualisation. | On track |
| 5. Equip government analysts with the latest data science tools and skills, through a programme of work led by the Office for National Statistics | April 2016 | June 2018 | We are collaborating closely with the ONS on the development of their data science campus, and in the development of a data science career path. We are pursuing projects such as the Data Science Sandbox to mitigate the risk of data scientists being unable to access the technology and tools they require by providing access to this cloud-hosted solution. We continue to run the Accelerator programme, allowing analysts in government departments with data scientist aspirations to work on discrete projects which, through delivery, will teach new skills and further develop existing knowledge and techniques. | On track |
| 6. Showcase best practice in data science through cross government projects, finding opportunities to bring in external expertise to inform the design and delivery of the projects | April 2016 | June 2018 | Through the design, delivery, and implementation of data science projects, we have demonstrated how best to implement data science skills in the context of government, allowing data scientists a semi-autonomous role and ensuring the correct expertise is deployed at optimal times during project a project cycle (e.g. bringing in developers, service designers & user researchers). We have brought this approach to our Land Availability, Regulation, and Text Categorisation projects, and will continue to refine the model in future work strands. | On track |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 12: GOV.UK |
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| Commitment | Assess opportunities for digital consultation tools, rebuild navigation to bring guidance and policy together by topic, provide APIs for government content and provide a full version history of every published page. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Cabinet Office (Government Digital Service) | |||
| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | Democratic Society, Snook, Involve, Natural Resource Governance Institute, The Open Data Institute | |||
| Timeline | May 2016 to March 2018 | |||
| Overall commitment status | On track | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | All milestones have been completed or are on track. We successfully completed our discovery into digital consultations in advance of our September deadline and have made significant progress in joining together related content and transactions as coherent services. We are now in a position to prioritise work in our roadmap for 2017/18 and will continue to review the milestones. | |||
| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. Complete a discovery project to identify opportunities for improved digital consultation tools, identifying next steps | May 2016 | September 2016 | GDS procured The Democratic Society and Snook to carry out a six week discovery into digital consultations. The discovery confirmed that the needs of digital consultations are too varied to have a one size fits all solution. A long term recommendation was for GDS to create an open infrastructure for consultation into which consultation tools from in-house or external developers can be plugged, like modules. GDS will assess the priority of improving digital consultations as we create our 2017-18 roadmap. | Completed |
| 2. Improve tagging, navigation, search and notification systems on GOV.UK, so publishers can begin to join together related content (including both guidance and policy) and transactions as coherent services | April 2016 | March 2017 | We have completed work to simplify the GOV.UK tagging infrastructure and built the structure for the new single taxonomy and the tools that support iterating the taxonomy.
We have also created a draft taxonomy for the first theme area, education content, based on data and research.
We have started an alpha for new unified navigation.
We have started a discovery on notifications.
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On track |
| 3. Provide APIs for government content | April 2017 | March 2018 | Work is being prioritised for the 2017/18 roadmap for GOV.UK, starting with an annual strategy and high level objectives. The current roadmap till end of the financial year focuses on completing lot of feature development for the publishing platform. Post feature development completion, in the new financial year, the team will be able to focus on providing an API for content. The roadmap will be shared before the commitment is due to begin. | On track |
| 4. Provide a full version history of every published page | April 2017 | March 2018 | Work is being prioritised for the 2017/18 roadmap for GOV.UK, starting with an annual strategy and high level objectives. The migration programme work is enabling all data to be available in the publishing platform. This work is necessary for us to meet our goal on providing full version history to our users. Our work in the next financial year will focus on how we display historical content to our users in a transparent way. As documents are updated on GOV.UK to keep pace with changes in law and policy, it will help users identify what changes have been made over time. The roadmap will be shared before the commitment is due to begin. | On track |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.
Commitment 13: Ongoing collaborative approach to open government reform |
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| Commitment | Identify, develop and implement robust and ambitious open government commitments on an ongoing basis through collaboration with partners in governments, parliaments and civil society across the UK. | |||
| Lead department(s) | Cabinet Office and Involve | |||
| Civil society organisation(s) involved in implementation to date | UK Open Government Network (OGN), National Council of Voluntary Organisation (NCVO) | |||
| Timeline | May 2016 to June 2018 | |||
| Overall commitment status | On track | |||
| Overall progress against commitment | A good foundation has been established, including with a joint statement of how government and civil society will work together. Cabinet Office, OGN and others are continuing to collaborate on identifying new commitments to add to the National Action Plan. | |||
| Progress against milestones/activities | ||||
| Milestone | Start date | End date | Update | Status |
| 1. Government and civil society will work together to develop and communicate an approach to implementation that supports transparency on progress of implementing commitments and provides forums for engagement at all levels to hold government to account | May 2016 | July 2016 | The government and civil society implementation group met on 27 July and 25 October. Both meetings were well attended.
A joint statement showing how government and civil society plan to work together was published on 7 October on GOV.UK and the OGN website.
A table, produced and updated by the UK Government and first issued on 24 October, keeps track of all public statements, policy papers, news stories, events and consultations related to each of the 2016-18 commitments. It will be updated before each OGP implementation meeting. |
Completed |
| 2. We will identify priority stakeholders and policy areas to inform an approach to broadening engagement and the priority focus for future commitments, including identifying platforms for communicating open government policy | June 2016 | September 2016 | We are considering potential new commitments, and in the course of this work have identified new stakeholders we could seek to engage.
At a meeting on 10 November between the OGP Cabinet Office team and civil society, there was a discussion on identifying areas for new commitments with new stakeholders. Civil society representatives felt that the areas should reflect the priorities of citizens and the government, e.g. housing, education, prisons and health. |
Ongoing |
| 3. The UK Open Government Civil Society Network will review its governance, terms of reference and working practices to ensure that it is able to continue to effectively build, involve and represent a broad membership | June 2016 | September 2016 | The OGN has updated its terms of reference. | Completed |
| 4. Commitments will be updated with new milestones as necessary to provide further clarity on agreed approaches to take work forward | June 2016 | June 2018 | We are working with commitment leads and OGN to ensure that the milestones remain appropriate. | On track |
| 5. New commitments will be published at a minimum of two points in the two-year plan cycle. These will be developed through a co-creation process with civil society, meeting the OGP criteria for starred commitments | June 2016 | June 2018 | Government is continuing to explore options for new commitments.
The Cabinet Office is working with devolved administrations to add commitments from their governments to the UK’s National Action Plan. |
On track |
More information about this commitment and previous progress updates are available on the OGP website.