Transparency News August 2010
In this Issue:
Analysis,
Transparency,
Technology and
spotlightonspend
Welcome to the first edition of the spotlightonspend
Transparency newsletter, in which we examine the impact of the
government's drive towards greater transparency in central and
local government spending. In particular, we look at:
- Releasing data without delay in a consistent and usable
form;
- Preparing the data to meet with government
standards;
- Allowing interested parties to re-use the data in new and
innovative ways;
- Avoiding the costs of FOI requests by publishing the data using
accessible online systems;
- Engaging the public with a collaborative approach to
publishing the data;
- How spotlightonspend can help councils achieve transparency and
openness cost-effectively.
We welcome your feedback
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Analysis: Riding the unstoppable wave of transparency
While the move to greater transparency has been welcomed by
lobby groups, campaigners and journalists as an opportunity to gain
insight into government spending, and to create innovative
applications and services, the wider issue for the government is
one of accountability.
The government hopes that publishing the data will give the
public a greater say in how services should be delivered, plus who
provides that service and whether the service delivers value for
money.
Open Government will provide a mechanism whereby the public can
respond to and question the levels of expenditure on services
provided within central and local government, as part of a public
inclusiveness policy set out in Conservatives’ Big Society
manifesto.
However, simply releasing the data in a raw format is only one
part of the process. While the armchair auditors, journalists and
analysts will welcome the release of the data in its raw form, in
order for members of the public to make sense of the data it needs
to be closely checked for errors before it is standardised,
cleansed and enhanced.
Data can be enhanced in many ways - by classifying vendors into
categories of spend, for example. Ideally the resulting data will
be visually well presented online, searchable and available for
download.
Built on Spikes Cavell’s experience in public sector spend
analysis and management, spotlightonspend is
designed to provide an easy and intuitive way to see exactly where
public money is being spent on goods and services and has
been identified as a service that can deliver against both the
transparency and open data objectives.
Spikes Cavell are working with the Local Government Data Panel
to ensure spotlightonspend delivers spend information in line with
the developing public data transparency principals.
Further, in order to address concerns that data released by
councils in its raw format can be susceptible to misinterpretation,
the data will be released in a cleansed form with personal
information redacted from the datasets.
It is anticipated that these developments will mean that the
spotlightonspend service will be a key enabler in helping councils
to meet government objectives in releasing spend data openly and
transparently, enabling the public, commercial organisations,
government bodies and interest groups to interpret the data in a
meaningful and useful way.
Transparency
An 'army of Armchairs auditors' will help make savings and
encourage value-for-money
Eric Pickles is quoted saying by the UK Press Association that
an "army of armchair auditors" will have the ability to
analyse government spend data, ensuring that Financial Controllers
will "think twice about whether they are getting better value for
money." [1]
Matthew Elliot, chief executive of The Taxpayers' Alliance says
the open data initiative is a "fantastic victory for openness", and
that an "army of enthusiastic, skilled amateurs will gladly explore
and use this information to suggest ways in which the government
can save money and improve public services." [2]
Public Sector Transparency Board releases a set of guiding
principles on making spend data 'open'
The Public Sector Transparency Board has issued a set of guiding
principles for the release of government data, with the emphasis on
open standards, open licences and timely release and the need for
linked data. The board recommends that local councils publish as
much data about its suppliers and contracts in a standardised
format. Guidance is sought from advisory bodies on data protection,
contract confidentiality and the protection of vulnerable
groups.
The principles are summarised as follows:
- Public data will be published in reusable, machine-readable
form;
- Public data will be released under the same open licence which
enables free reuse, including commercial reuse;
- Public data will be available and easy to find through a single
easy to use online access point at data.gov.uk;
- Public data will be published using open standards and
following the recommendations of the World Wide Web
Consortium;
- Public data underlying the government's own websites will be
published in reusable form for others to use;
- Public data will be timely and fine grained;
- Release data quickly, and then republish it in linked data
form;
- Public data will be freely available to use in any lawful
way;
- Public bodies should actively encourage the re-use of their
public data;
- Public bodies should maintain and publish inventories of their
data holdings. [3]-[4]
Publish
spend data now, worry about quality later, says data expert, but
Google calls for machine-readable formats
London DataStore head welcomes new government transparency
initiatives, but urges local councils to publish the data without
delay, and address issues of quality later.
Emer Coleman, London Alliances Project Director at the GLA and
head of the London DataStore, writes in The Guardian that
risk aversion within local government "is a potentially huge
barrier" to the release of government data, but the government
should be commended for encouraging councils to publish data and
implement data standards and other policies later. "Excessively
worrying about data quality can be a convenient way to avoid
grasping the nettle but it just drags the process out. With data
release it's a question of not letting perfection be the enemy of
the good."
It is "not enough" for local councils to simply supply data to
the public and a "model of engagement" is required. A two-way
communication process between data providers and end-users can help
to improve data services and provide positive feedback which can
"promote its use in return." [5]
To save development time, government bodies should publish data
in machine-readable formats, with "as few 'strings' attached
as possible", according to Google's UK Policy Manager, so that it
can be used in 'mash ups' and within new applications and services.
"The details matter", says Sarah Hunter, and those controlling its
release must make sure the data is released with "consistently high
standards of usability." [6]
[1] Councils to publish expenditure – UK Press
Association,
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hA8tFD-9JgHBSEkHCk2iBppF5CPQ,
5th June 2010-06-09
[2] Government spending is finally laid bare – Nigel Morris, The
Independent,
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/government-spending-is-finally-laid-bare-all-120-gigabytes-of-it-1992087.html,
5th June 2010
[3] New UK transparency
board and public data principles- Open Knowledge Foundation Blog
,
http://blog.okfn.org/2010/06/28/new-uk-transparency-board-and-public-data-principles,
28th June 2010
[4] Cabinet Office seeks opinions on transparency and open data -
Computer Weekly,
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/06/28/241766/Cabinet-Office-seeks-opinions-on-transparency-and-open.htm,
28th June 2010
[5] Local government data: lessons from London – Emer Coleman, The
Guardian,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jun/21/local-government-data-london-datastore,
21st June 2010
[6] European Public Policy Blog : The UK's public data tsunami
gathers speed – Sarah Hunter, Google,
http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.com/2010/06/uks-public-data-tsunami-gathers-speed.html,
17th June, 2010
Technology
'Spurious data requests' could cost councils time and
money
Councils could face unnecessary costs and time wastage as public
make 'spurious' data enquiries, while a £500 threshold for local
data spending is seen as too low
SOCITM (society of IT management) warns that initially there will
be an inordinate amount of time and added cost to local
authorities dealing with "spurious comparisons" within the data
made by members of the public, press and pressure groups,
although this will be alleviated as "information sets are
better harmonised and their basis consolidated."
Organisations that have outsourced their IT services are "now
finding it difficult to easily extract the data [...] from
externally managed systems, either because of the cost or because
they no longer have the in-house skills." [1]
Abdool Kara, chief executive of Swale Borough Council, says that
the drive towards greater transparency, "disregards the added costs
which will be an additional burden on councils". Citing the
director general of SOLACE, David Clark, he says he would like to
understand the "rationale" for setting "a limit for publishing
expenditure by the civil service to be 50 times higher than for
local government." [2]
New analytics tools needed for 'complex and dense' government
data
Raw government data is seen as too complex and dense. New tools
will help the public make sense of the data.
The Independent sees new business opportunities that
will help analyse the 'non-reader friendly or even comprehensible'
COINS data. The 'complex density' of the information will mean that
"a whole hi-tech industry will [probably] spring up to decode
it."
Google's UK policy manager warns that "a gargantuan list of
numbers" will be meaningless to the "ordinary" public.
Analysts and web developers should meet the challenge of building
tools to make sense of the data, as "…information works best when
it can be overlaid with other datasets and correlations can be
made". [3]
"Technical expertise" will be required to make sense of the
COINS data, but it has been published in way that it can be used by
"institutes and experts" in any way that they wish, while in the
future the data will be published in a "simpler, more accessible
format" according to the Treasury. [4]
Information Age reports that users are “struggling to make sense
of the huge volume of public sector data”. Richard Sterling, head
of the Open Data initiative says that the data may have to be
visually represented in formats such as bar charts, pie charts and
scatter graphs in order to provide context, as users are not
drawing “sensible conclusions” from the data in its current raw
format. [5]
Online analytics tools can help public understand how councils
spend money
Ben Page, chief executive of Ipsos MORI is quoted by
Localgov.co.uk saying that the 'armchair auditors' should
be allowed to use spend data and respond on how the efficiency
savings can be made. An online tool should be developed, he
suggests, that allows people to understand the "real parameters"
and "few easy choices" under which councils operate, and the
"implications of moving money from one area to another, or cutting
it all together". [6]
The Guardian agrees, saying computer programmers and
entrepreneurs will be "delighted" by the release of government
data, with a "data deluge expected [in the coming months] and an
industry ... ready to exploit it [...] Now what is needed is people
who can make sense for the rest of us; we have transparency but
need lenses to bring out the detail." [7]
[1] Being transparent – pros and cons –SOCITM Blog,
http://www.socitm.net/blog/socitmblog/post/57,
undated
[2] Plugged In – Abdool Kara, LocalGov.co.uk,
http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&id=89778,
23rd June 2010
[3] European Public Policy Blog : The UK's public data tsunami
gathers speed – Sarah Hunter, Google,
http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.com/2010/06/uks-public-data-tsunami-gathers-speed.html,
17th June, 2010
[4] Government spending is
finally laid bare – Nigel Morris, The Independent,
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/government-spending-is-finally-laid-bare-all-120-gigabytes-of-it-1992087.html,
5th June 2010
[5] Data.gov.uk chief admits data ‘difficult to understand’ –
Information Age,
http://www.information-age.com/channels/information-management/news/1271473/open-data-hard-to-understand-says-datagovuk-chief.thtml,
30th July, 2010
[6] Tell the public the truth – LocalGov.co.uk,
http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&id=89426,
8th June, 2010
[7] Coins: A flood of data is on its way... but we will need to
make sense of it – The Guardian, Charles Arthur,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jun/04/coins-treasury-public-sector-data,
4th June 2010
spotlightonspend
spotlightonspend data analysis tool opens council data to the
public
The Communities and Local Government web site includes
a case study of Windsor and Maidenhead Council, who are using the
data analysis tool 'Spotlight on Spend' to publish "every piece of
expenditure over £500" on a public website. The site lists how much
was spent on services, which contractor delivered the service and
details of cost.
The case study report says that "concerns about the move to more
open data being over burdensome and expensive have proven
unfounded", while finance teams at the council can publish the
figures online "within hours". [1]
The Taxpayers Alliance describes Spotlight on Spend as
a "fantastic tool" which demonstrates to other councils how they
can implement the government's openness initiatives. Providing the
public with a means to understand and easily read the data is "as
important as transparency itself". [2]
spotlightonspend can inform the public and provide savings
opportunities at minimal cost
SpotlightonSpend should be "an inspiration" to Francis Maude,
chair of the Public Service Transparency Board, according to
The Daily Telegraph, [3] while Communities and Local
Government Secretary Eric Pickles says that SpotlightonSpend
demonstrates that collaboration between the public sector and
commercial organisations can "inform the public, reduce costs and
improve democracy both locally and nationally. Most importantly, we
can do all of this fast and at almost zero extra cost to the
taxpayer." [4]
Councils see spotlightonspend delivering transparency and
driving change in how councils operate
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Councillor Liam Maxwell
says that the Spotlight on Spend initiative allows residents to
follow the progress of projects, and examine the risk status and
implications of big council projects. "Transparency is one of
the most powerful tools we have to drive change, especially in
times of adversity..." [5]
Cllr Andrew Hodges, Lead Councillor for Finance and Resources at
Guildford Borough Council is quoted in a press release saying
that the council has also signed up for the SpotlightonSpend
service, "…to present our spending figures in a clear and open way.
[...] One of the core values of the Council is that our work will
be publicly accountable and presented with openness and
transparency. This is an excellent way of demonstrating
this." [6] – [7]
Steve White, head of revenue and payments services at Guildford
City Council told PublicTechnology.net that he hopes that
SpotlightonSpend will reduce the number of Freedom of Information
requests the council receives, “because councils get a lot of them
asking about spending. We can point them in the direction of the
spend analysis website and tell them the information is all there.”
[8]
Spikes Cavell to release council data in standardised data
formats under an open licence through SpotlightonSpend
Published notes from a recent meeting of the Local Public Data
Panel outline how Spikes Cavell will make amendments to the way
data is made available on the SpotlightonSpend web site, with an
“open standardised raw data file format … available by the end of
w/c 2nd August [2010].”
The data sets will be cleansed by Spikes Cavell with personal
information redacted, and will be “open and reusable” for
commercial use, and “published under a licence that echoes that of
the data.gov.uk site.”
Going forward, Spikes Cavell intends to adopt an open licence
for SpotlightonSpend currently under development by The National
Archives. The company will work with the Public Data Panel and
other interest groups to help shape data standards. The data will
also be made available through the data.gov.uk website. [9]
[1] Eric Pickles – New era of transparency will bring about
a revolution in town hall openness and accountability, Communities
and Local Government, http://www.communities.gov.uk/newsstories/newsroom/1607061,
4th June, 2010
[2] Making transparency useful – The Taxpayers Alliance,
http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/bettergovernment/2010/05/in-the-coalition-governments-programme-for-government-document-we-saw-that-councils-will-have-to-publish-spending-above-50.html,
28th May 2010
[3] Government spending should be transparent – The Daily
Telegraph,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/7791103/Government-spending-should-be-transparent.html,
31st May 2010
[4] Free local government data – Matt Warman, The Daily
Telegraph,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7864340/Free-local-government-data.html,
1st July 2010
[5] Council frees
its data – Matt Warman, The Daily Telegraph,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7779774/Council-frees-its-data.html,
28th May 2010
[6] Guildford is first in
Surrey to shine spotlight on spending – Press Release, Guildford
Borough Council, 8th June, 2009
[7] Borough goes online – LocalGov.co.uk,
http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&id=89587,
16th June 2010
[8]Guildford City Council: Local Govt cost management in action
– PublicTechnology.net,http://www.publictechnology.net/sector/local-gov/local-govt-should-get-pat-back,
29th July 2010
[9] Local Public Data Panel – sub group meeting on Spotlight on
Spend 20 July 2010 - data.gov.uk,
http://www.usaugg.com/blog/local-public-data-panel-%E2%80%93-sub-group-meeting-spotlight-spend-20-july-2010,
20th July 2010
TAGS: transparency, efficiency, newsletter, news, spotlightonspend, public data, procurement, public spending, local authority, government
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