Outline of an open data strategy for local government underpinned by local government examplars in open data use

1. Implementing an Innovative Data Strategy
to Improve Local Service Delivery
Gesche Schmid,
Programme Manager Transparency
Local Government Association
@gescheschmid
Gesche.schmid@local.gov.uk

2. Open data and its
innovative use
• drives transparency and accountability and
is increasingly important to inform policy
making.
• supports fairness, democratic engagement
and participation
• provides opportunities to generate social,
economic, environmental and cultural
value
“Opening up is about
sharing
instead of having”

3. Local service priorities
How to
• Deal with the fiscal cliff
• Manage demand on care services of an
increasing elderly population on
• Provide substantially more affordable housing
• Cope with an increasing demand on cities
infrastructure
• Find school places for all children
• Improve the employment prospect of young
people
• Deal with environmental impacts such as flooding

4. Digital and data
strategies
• Hampshire’s answer
to a digital strategy
• Transforming public
service (efficiencies and
effectiveness)
• Citizen and community
engagement, self service
and localism
• Innovate: Smart cities and
communities
• Information economy and
research: finding insights
through big data analytics
Open by Default
Digital by Design

5. Recognising the benefits of transparency and
data analytics
Making data available
and using them raised
the profile of data as
an asset
Breaks down silos
between departments,
organisations, citizens
and communities
Improved skills as
people make better
use of data
Greater insight into customer
needs and demands due to
better analytics helps to
improve service delivery and
performance
Councils know what
data they own,
reduces duplication
Easier and faster data
analysis from standardised
and linkable data

6. Recognising challenges and overcoming
barriers in implementing a data strategy
Critical for digital success:
• 92% - Digital leadership
• 85% - Skilled internal digital resource
• 81% - Data and information sharing between organisations
Digital blocks:
• 86% - Legacy systems and ICT infrastructure
• 59% - Unwillingness to change
• 58% - Lack of in-house digital skills
• 51% - Supplier inflexibility
LA digital needs survey 2014
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-digital-today-2014

7. Strategy for open data
Leadership and governance:
• Embed open data within a wider digital strategy
• Appoint a champion to lead and overcome cultural barriers
• Build data publication into the service provision and
understand what data you hold, why, where and who owns it
• Ensure information governance to understand what data you
can share, how and with whom
Technical implementation
• Make use of the local and national information infrastructure
to improve the quality of data and to make it comparable at
regional and national level
• Provide a integrated data architecture and platform as a
sustainable solution for publishing your data

8. Strategy for open data (engagement)
• Build skills to enable people to use the data
• Engage, encourage and empower the
community to understand the demands for your
data and promote its use
• Incentivise services to make use of open data,
not just publish it
• Be open and work in partnership with other
organisations, citizen, business, community and
research to build and share knowledge

10. Local open data
infrastructure
Enable local data to be easily discovered, combined and
compared to make them more meaningful through the use of
common standards.
• common standards, classifications and taxonomies
where they do not already exist (esd toolkit)
• Practical and technical guidance developed by LGA
and LeGSB which sets out some of the principles for
publishing and linking data.
• a local domain on data.gov.uk to provide a common
focal point for sharing and promoting local open data,
common standards, apps, initiatives, case studies, blogs
• local government data and information services (LG
Inform)

12. Making use of open data
• Use of data in decision making
– Provide evidence based on defined questions
– Analytics: Linking, comparing and analysing
data
– Big Data Analytics: high volume, velocity and
variety of information assets to gain insight
into customer behaviour (research and data
centres)
– Visualise data so that they can be understood

13. LG Inform: LGA data service
‘The LGA’s free data service which presents you with up-to-
date published data about your local area and the
performance of your council’.
www.local.gov.uk/lginform

14. Spending data:
Body Name Body Name Amount Pay Date Description 1 Descri
Bristol City Council http://statistics.data.gov.uk/id/local-authority/00HB@SYMES HARTCLIFFE & WITHYWOOD COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP590 30/08/2012 EMPLOYEE TRAINING COSTSORGA
Bristol City Council http://statistics.data.gov.uk/id/local-authority/00HB@SYMES HARTCLIFFE & WITHYWOOD COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP962.5 16/08/2012 EMPLOYEE TRAINING COSTSORGA
Bristol City Council http://statistics.data.gov.uk/id/local-authority/00HB10 SQUARED LIMITED 922.5 29/08/2012 EQUIPMENT, FURNITURE & MANURSE

15. @ianmakgill @spendnetwork
Spend: budget management
£0.00
£6,000,000.00
£12,000,000.00
£18,000,000.00
£24,000,000.00
£30,000,000.00
Apr
2011
Jul
2011
Oct
2011
Jan
2012
Apr
2012
Jul
2012
Oct
2012
Jan
2013
Apr
2013
Jul
2013

16. www.cipfa.org/Services/Research-and-Statistics/Datashare

17. https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=-Ku9qQk4IGE

19. http://www.leedsempties.
org.uk/national-empty-
homes-week-1st-5th-
december/ tells the story
of the 85 homes we
helped to bring back into
use last year using open
data

20. Newham School Locator app
has reduced calls about school admissions by more than 50%
helps parents make more successful school placement choices

22. Open Data
Engagement
• Government information and data
are common resources, managed in trust by government.
• A commitment to open data involves making information and
data resources accessible to all without discrimination; and
actively engaging to ensure that information and data can be
used in a wide range of ways.
• Engaging open data should:
★ Be demand driven
★ ★ Put data in context
★ ★ ★ Support conversation around data
★ ★ ★ ★ Build capacity, skills and networks
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Collaborate on data as a common resource
http://www.opendataimpacts.net/engagement/

23. Engagement with
citizen and
communities
• Awareness Raising –stimulate interest amongst
community organisations
– Ask the question (define the problem)
– Find the evidence: (find and analyse the data)
– Communicate (visualise the data and tell a story)
• Needs different skill set: good communication and
analytical skills
– engagement officer/local library
Making data ‘open’ is about
understanding its story;
how it came to exist and what
it represents, and then
enabling other people to write
the next chapter.

24. Cambridgeshire Insight:
Who uses our information…
51.9% are repeat visitors
Real Estate/Residential
Properties
Consumer
Electronics/Mobile
Phones
Home & Garden/Home
Improvement
Autos &
Vehicles/Motor
Vehicles
Financial
Services/Investment
Services
In-Market
Segments
What data is in demand?
Economy  Employment in the hi-tech community: Cambridgeshire &
Peterborough 2012
 Cambridgeshire East of England Forecasting Model 2013 Baseline
Housing  Local Housing Allowance (LHA) Changes
 Registers of expressed need compared to lettings and sales
 Affordable Housing Completions
 Planning Permission Granted and Housing Completions
 Housing need register applicants parish preference, social rented
lettings and bidding behaviour
Demography  Cambridgeshire Dwelling Stock Forecasts 2012
 Cambridgeshire Population and Dwelling Stock Estimates 2012
 Cambridgeshire Population Forecasts 2012
Transport  Traffic Counts

25. Birmingham Skills Hub
• Increase data literacy skills of citizens,
communities and third sector to
understand the value of open data
• Develop programme of community
engagement activities through existing
networks
– Proven social media
surgeries model
– Neighbourhood forums

26. Jamie Whyte
• We have four objectives to
adhere to.
– Help to reduce demand on
services
– Help to redesign services
– Improve peoples (citizens,
3rd sector, private, public)
awareness / understanding
of the area
– Help to attract or retain
investment into the
Borough
From Superheroes to Leisure Centres
http://www.infotrafford.org.uk/lab

27. Trafford:
Warm Homes Healthy People
-
Supporting Commissioners
with Data
Paul Westland | 12 Feb 2015
| open knowledge
Fuel poverty in
Trafford 2012 by
ward and LSOA

28. Making the air in Sheffield better
with open data
http://betterwithdata.co/portfolio/air
-quality-plus/

29. Add value to open data …
The value of open data is derived through its use
To add value…..
promote the use of data through
– digital services
– analytics and visualisations
– stories and engagement
Use of open data empowers people
– but decision makers and political parties feel
challenged!
– Bring them on board as champion for the
people