1. Local Government Transparency Code and Open Data Making Transparency Work 2014 - Birmingham

2. 2 “Greater transparency across Government is at the heart of our shared commitment to enable the public to hold politicians and public bodies to account; to reduce the deficit and deliver better value for money in public spending; and to realise significant economic benefits by enabling businesses and non-profit organisations to build innovative applications and websites using public data.” Prime Minister, 2010 The Transparency Agenda Opening up government from central to local

3. Better, more efficient services Greater local accountability Supporting local growth Positive Transparency Bringing benefits to citizens and councils 3

4. Power Shift  More power into citizens’ hands Local accountability Local decision-making Transparency Foundation of accountability Key to decision-making Availability of key information Open new markets for service delivery All data should, in principle, be made available unless there are specific sensitivities 4 Transforming Governance Empowering citizens through transparency

5. 5 The benefits of open data Evidence tells us that local authorities and local people see benefits in data being made available: Increased Accountability Benefit for local decision-making and democracy Local people think it is ‘very important’ that ‘the Council makes data available to the public’ Great interest in seeing data made available on council spending/budgets Great interest in seeing specific data on senior management salaries

6. Revising the Code: Promoting consistency and greater transparency The voluntary recommended Code was published in 2011. There were some positive outcomes: A review of transparency in April 2012 found that 100% of authorities sampled, published payments over £500 (but we know that later on this has drifted backwards). But the voluntary code was not achieving all that government wanted: o The same review found that only 4% of authorities published data on land and building assets. o And another sector-led survey found that only 52% published copies of contracts and tenders in line with the recommended Code. 6

7. Why regulate? The code focusses on key information that people want to see. The data sets reflect areas of activity which are central to people’s lives. The voluntary code has already provided a starting point and has created an expectation for transparency. Regulating will ensure that wins are locked-in and that authorities cannot roll back from their obligations; and will ensure that there are minimum reporting standards across the country. Embedding transparency standards will giving citizens across the country equal access to key information about their communities. 7

8. Securing greater efficiency and value for money 8  All expenditure transactions exceeding £500;  All Government Procurement Card transactions;  Procurement information for invitations to tender and contracts over £5,000.

9. Accountability – how local decisions are taken 9 Mandating (at least) annual publication of:  Constitution;  Organisation chart;  Senior salaries;  The pay multiple.

10. Issues important to local people 10 Mandating (at least) annual publication of:  Trade union facility time;  Parking revenues and controlled parking spaces  Grants to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations  Local authority land and assets.

11. So where are we now? Draft regulations are with Ministers for approval and should be layed shortly. Answering technical questions: o Funding; o Timings, when will the Code be in force; o What is expected of local authorities and when; o How long does the data have to remain available; o Impact assessment; o Definition of free parking; o Fraud; o Enforcement. 11

12. Data are key to understanding & solving complex, interrelated real-word problems 12 Deprivation & poverty Homelessness Community participation Local democracy Housing & households

13. However…data is too hard to find, and too hard to use.. 13 Users frequently blend & combine multiple sources Disconnected spreadsheets & databases are a real barrier to joined-up data We need to demolish the data silos!

14. 14 Unlock the spreadsheets! and supporting guidance material Moving towards 5-star, statistical LinkedData http://opendatacommunities.org

15. 15 Exploiting free/open source tools Unleash the creativity http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/epc/epcdemo.html

16. 16 Demonstrating the potential of data linking Unleash the creativity,from NOMIS (real-time) from OpenDataCommunities (real-time) Switchable layers and sources

17. Contacts Ashley Pottier – ashley.pottier@communities.gsi.gov.ukashley.pottier@communities.gsi.gov.uk Steve Peters - Steve.Peters@communities.gsi.gov.ukSteve.Peters@communities.gsi.gov.uk Anthony Karabinas – anthony.karabinas@communities.gsi.gov.ukanthony.karabinas@communities.gsi.gov.uk 17