1. Achieving Change through Open Data Andrew Stott UK Transparency Board formerly Director, data.gov.uk Zagreb, Croatia 28 Sep 2012 @dirdigeng andrew.stott@dirdigeng.com

2. Open Data in the UK: The Policy Drivers 2

3. Policy Drivers for Open Data Economic growth and social value Improve public services Transparent Government 3 Triple Objectives

4. LabourCoalition UK Policy Drivers New economic and social value June 07Mar 11 4 Feb 09

5. Economic Value of Open Data Open Gov Data in EU would increase business activity by up to €40 Bn with total annual benefits of €140 Bn Spanish study found ~€600m of business from open data with >5000 jobs Australian study found ROI of ~500% from open data Deloitte study for EU found open data was reused 10- 100 times more than charged-for data Releasing addressing data as Open Data in Denmark gave $21m/yr benefits and 2200% ROI Open Weather Data in US has created 400 companies employing 4000 people 5

6. LabourCoalition UK Policy Drivers New economic and social value Jul 11 Improve public services 6 Mar 09

7. Open Data improving public services Publishing the UK’s 240 cardiac surgeons’ individual clinical outcomes reduced deaths by 1000 a year 1000s of apps delivering public transport information in the United States – 68 in New York alone UK released data on location of 300,000 bus-stops; OpenStreetMap corrected 18,000 of them, improving official data accuracy. Sharing Open Data within public agencies in Manchester (city of 2.6m people) saves US$14m/yr Open Data on public agency purchasing has allowed a “whole of government” view to get best prices and performance from key suppliers 7

8. LabourCoalition Jun 09 UK Policy Drivers New economic and social value May 10 Improve public services Transparent & Accountable Government 8

9. Open Data in Transparency 9

10. UK Government Transparency Data 10 For every Ministry:- Expenditure Senior staff salaries Expenses Official credit cards Contracts Tenders Organisation charts Local service & performance data Meetings

11. Financial Transparency: Macro Level 11

12. Holding government accountable 12

13. Financial Transparency: Transaction level 13

14. Pressure to justify and restrain costs 14

15. Pressure to justify and restrain costs 15

16. Financial transparency: Contract Level 16 Links to the documents

17. Contracts: A great example from Slovakia 17 http://www.otvorenezmluvy.sk/ Original text of contract from Gov website “Rate this contract” Key details and links Fair-Play Alliance

18. Transparency of Hospital Performance 18 12+ Weeks MRSA-free Good C-Diff record Low Mortality 2 recent MRSA Blood clots Patient ratings

19. Crime Data 19

20. Crime: Data  Engagement 20 Local team Telephone, website, Facebook and Youtube …. Local police Twitter feed How YOU can get involved It’s very local Accessible data on crime AttractInformEngageAction

21. Open Data for Accountability Open Data exposed CAN$3.2bn misuse of charitable status in tax code in Canada Publishing UK Senior Civil Servants’ expenses reduced claims by ~40-50% Open Data exposed racial discrimination in water supply in Zanesville, United States – victims won $10.9m compensation UK civil service pay data exposed people paid twice as much as the Head of the Civil Service and three times as much as the Prime Minister 21

22. A dataset can serve multiple objectives 22

23. Lessons learned 23

24. Top-level political support essential 24 “Public information does not belong to Government, it belongs to the public.” “Greater transparency will enable the public to hold politicians and public bodies to account”

25. Strong civil society “demand-side” essential 25

26. Passionate team important too! 26

27. 27 Deliver incrementally

28. Release interesting & useful data 28

29. Ensure clear, common, licensing 29

30. Don’t accept “no” — work out “how” It’s held separately by n different organisations, and we can’t join it up It will make people angry and scared without helping them It is technically impossible We do not own the data The data is just too large to be published and used Our website cannot hold files this large We know the data is wrong We know the data is wrong, and people will tell us where it is wrong We know the data is wrong, and we will waste valuable resources inputting the corrections people send us People will draw superficial conclusions from the data without understanding the wider picture People will construct league tables from it It will generate more Freedom of Information requests It will cost too much to put it into a standard format It will distort the market Our IT suppliers will charge us a fortune to do an ad hoc extract 30

31. Manage expectations, prepare for mistakes 31 “We’re making a small start next week. But eventually, it’s going to make a big difference.” “The information we’re publishing next week won’t be perfect, and I’m sure there’ll be some mistakes. But I want to get on with it.” UK Prime Minister 29 May 2010

32. Photos: @memespring, @MadLabUK, @paul_clarke Continuously engage with developers 32

33. .. and highlight applications, not data 33

34. Government is a data user too 34

35. … and the biggest lesson of all 35 Overcome obstacles practically by doing, not debating Overcome obstacles practically by doing, not debating

36. Open Data, Privacy and Freedom of Information 36

37. Open Data v. Privacy

38. Open Data and Freedom of Information Why did the UK FOI Act not give Open Data? FOI practice has focussed on Requests for Information, and ignored Proactive Publication Exemptions give many grounds to withhold Long-winded process to challenge refusals No “right to reuse” in FOI responses (fixing) No requirement for re-usable formats (fixing) Cost thresholds – inefficient Ministries are less transparent Uncertainty and time delays are barriers to innovation 38

39. Birmingham Parking Tickets: Data obtained by FOI 39

40. FOI: Parking Tickets 40 Wide range of excuses: It will cost too much: It’s too big to email, therefore we must print it It is personal information You must be working for an organisation. We have passed it on to our technical team

41. FOI did not enable re-use 41

42. Too much data? 42 “But the Con-Lib government’s claim that it heralded openness was met with some scepticism, as the database is too vast and unusable for anyone but computer and data experts to decipher.”

43. One Day Later 43

44. Two Days Later 44

45. Conclusion Open Data a key enabler – but its value is in its use Important to grow open data “ecosystem” in civil society Data should engage rather than just inform Government must be prepared to listen and act 45

46. Questions? 46

47. End 47