This document summarizes the key initiatives that the Local Government Association is undertaking to promote transparency and open data in local governments in the UK. It discusses the benefits of open data, such as innovation and empowering citizens. It also outlines programs to encourage local governments to publish open data, including guidance on required transparency disclosures, an open data breakthrough program, and a voucher scheme for publishing to common standards. Services to support these efforts are also mentioned.

1. Local Transparency
Gesche Schmid
Programme Manager Transparency
Local Government Association
Transparency code road show January 2014
www.local.gov.uk

2. Local Transparency
• Local government supports a
presumption in favour of
transparency and open data
• transparency fosters greater accountability and
democracy
• ready access and meaningful use of open data
– Innovates and transforms local public services
– Empowers citizen, business, community groups
• The pace of the transition from closed to open data is
based on local needs and demand

3. Local transparency
• Open by default (Vision Redbridge)
• Closed data is dead data (Future Cities)
“There are only two types of data in Bristol City Council: confidential data
which we can’t share, and open data which will be made available.” Councillor
Mark Wright, Bristol
• Used within public sector to transform services
– Self assessment and self service(community budgets).
– Sharing of Insight
• Make data open so that it can be reused by citizen, business,
community groups,
– Apps, location analysis, commissioning, engagement with communities
• £ 70 million value in efficiency savings through the better use of
public sector information in local government alone (DeLoitte
2013)

7. Local Government sector-led
approach
• encourage a more meaningful approach to the release of
open data with the emphasis of a sector-led approach to
improvement and innovation.
– Local Transparency programme managed by the Local
Government Association (LGA)
– Local Open Data Group to promote a common local data
infrastructure and local domain on data.gov.uk
– Local government open data breakthrough programme
funded by the Department for Business Innovation and
Skills (BIS) and voucher programme funded by Cabinet
Office
– http://www.local.gov.uk/local-transparency

8. 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 and initiatives
• local government data and information services (LG Inform)

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

11. Core reference data
Local authorities
(and more)
Companies
Administrative
geographies
Legislation
Finance
Services, circumstances,
Metrics, ...

12. LG Inform
http://standards.esd.org.uk

14. Inventories and aggregators of local data
Common inventory formats for
harvesting
Common dataset formats for
combining similar data from
different councils
Common vocabularies to identify
similar datasets and formats
(Services List + Functions List)

15. Transparency code guidance
• LGA and partners developed guidance to provide
practical help to local authorities to
– publish local data to meet the needs of the code
and to
– add value for reusing the data
• The LGA will review and update existing guidance
for publishing spending, salaries and procurement
• Include outcome of LGA consultation on VCS
spending
• Develop new guidance where necessary
• Keep it simple, identify and promote standards and
best practice

16. Site to be updated once
code is finalised
http://www.local.gov.uk/practitioners-guides-to-publishing-data

17. Spending data template

18. Spending data:
Body Name
Bristol City Council
Bristol City Council
Bristol City Council
Body
Name
Amount Pay Date
Description 1
Descri
http://statistics.data.gov.uk/id/local-authority/00HB
@SYMES HARTCLIFFE & WITHYWOOD COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP TRAINING COSTS
590
30/08/2012 EMPLOYEE
ORGA
http://statistics.data.gov.uk/id/local-authority/00HB
@SYMES HARTCLIFFE & WITHYWOOD COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP TRAINING COSTS
962.5
16/08/2012 EMPLOYEE
ORGA
http://statistics.data.gov.uk/id/local-authority/00HB
10 SQUARED LIMITED
922.5
29/08/2012 EQUIPMENT, FURNITURE & MA
NURSE

20. Local government support
• Collate responses from the sector on transparency code and
submit LGA response to DCLG (e-mail
transparency@local.gov.uk with comments)
• Develop guidance on publishing data in collaboration with the
sector, DCLG, LeGSB and ICO
• Develop and promote standards and data services (LG Inform
and LG Inform Plus)
• Identify good practice and case studies
• Manage open data breakthrough and voucher programme
• Hold workshops across the country to promote a greater
understanding and responsibility for the opening up of data
within local authorities

21. Open Data Breakthrough Programme
• enables open data release and ease of access to open data
to stimulate engagement, innovation and growth
• overcome particular technical barriers in opening up data so
that the data can be more easily used in onward applications,
tools and services
• develop concepts, tools, services, standards or systems
which directly lead to the opening up of data
• promotes standards and good practice in opening up data.
• Almost 50 applications: 19 successful project applications in
2013/14
• Further funding in 2014/15: await further announcements on
www.local.gov.uk/local-transparency

22. Open Data Breakthrough Projects 2013/14
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Peterborough City Council - Index of
open data sets to aid comparison across
councils.
Kent County Council - Local government
legal and business guidance as open data
Redbridge Council - DataShare
Barnet London Borough - Barnet Data
Store
Cheshire East Council - URIs for natural
neighbourhoods
Hampshire County Council - Linked
Open Data Planning Register
Leicester City Council -The automation
of the publishing of Open Data and
internal MI data in a standard, machine
readable, linked format
•
•
•
•
•
Lancashire County Council Lancashire Local Information Service
(LIS) Project
Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire Insight Open Data:
Stimulating Economic Growth and
Encouraging Innovation.
Devon County Council - Local
Government Community Data –
opportunities for localities and
businesses*
Leeds City Council - development of
the West Yorkshire Observatory* and
Hackathon
City of York Council - York Open
Data – Empowering communities to
access services (not able to present
today)

23. Open Data Breakthrough Projects 2013/14
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
London Borough of Harrow – Hot
Harrow
London Borough of Hounslow –
Customer Data Gateway
London Borough of Lambeth Cooperative Council Community Data
Project
London Councils - Intelligent London:
Skills Match
North Somerset Council – Customer
Information Portal and Dashboard
Sunderland City Council – Sunderland
Software City Data Brokerage
Surrey Heath – County wide Planning
Open Data

24. Voucher Scheme
• £700K of funding to local authorities for publishing
data to certain standards to provide more consistent,
reusable data from local government.
• Local authorities will receive a voucher if they publish
their data to given standards.
• managed through the LG Inform Plus (formerly esd
toolkit) programme funded by Cabinet Office,
through the Public Sector Transparency Board
• Further announcements to follow

25. Services supporting
Local transparency and open data
Local Transparency: http://www.local.gov.uk/local-transparency,
Email: transparency@local.gov.uk
LG Inform: www.local.gov.uk/about-lginform,
Email: LGInform@local.gov.uk
Esd toolkit: www.esd.org.uk