Prime Minister Gordon Brown's speech today on Smarter government 'outlined plans for improving frontline services, increasing Government efficiency, and using technology to help hospitals, schools and police forces get better value for money'. Along with this he outlined plans for the release of more government data to allow 'every citizen from next year will have access to information on the performance of public services including hospitals and schools'.
Information is the key. An informed citizen is a powerful citizen.
And I can announce today that we will actively publish all public services performance data online during 2010 completing the process by 2011. Crime data, hospital costs and parts of the national pupil database will go on line in 2010. We will use this data to benchmark the best and the worst and drive better value for money.
Releasing data can and must unleash the innovation and entrepreneurship at which Britain excels – one of the most powerful forces of change we can harness.
All of this will be available for free commercial re-use, enabling people for the first time to take the material and easily turn it into applications, like fix my street or the postcode paper.
And I can further announce today that, again from next April, we will also release public transport data hitherto inaccessible or expensive and release significant underlying data for weather forecasts for free download and re-use.
For more on the release of government Data see
The Smarter Government action plan outlines how the Government 'will improve public service outcomes while achieving the fiscal consolidation that is vital to helping the economy grow.'
The plan has three central actions: to drive up standards by strengthening the role of citizens and civic society; to free up public services by recasting the relationship between the centre and the frontline; and to streamline the centre of government, saving money through sharper delivery.
For more details on the initiative and plans for opening up data see:
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