Archive for 'freedata'
Don't go comparing
There's a bit of a spat at the moment over Conservative (mis)use of crime stats to suggest a doubling or trebling of violent crime. The BBC's Mark Easton has an excellent summary of the situation, which ultimately boils down to a change in how the numbers were put together: Before 2002 the decision as to [...] read on »
Did we just win?
We've all learned to be cynical about government announcements - but I'm reading through today's 'Putting the Frontline First: Smarter Government' paper, and I can't help smiling. We certainly aren't in a position where the PM can make a policy declaration, and it all falls into place by lunchtime; there are some vicious battles ahead. [...] read on »
Cameron pledges to free our data
David Cameron has taken the Conservatives' promises on availability of public data a few steps further, in principle at least, in a speech at Imperial College on taking 'broken politics' into the 'post-bureaucratic age'. 'In Britain today, there are over 100,000 public bodies producing a huge amount of information,' he said; 'Most of this information [...] read on »
Let freedom of information ring
It would appear that the plan to exempt MPs and Lords from Freedom Of Information provisions has been ditched. The Mail's Benedict Brogan is trying to unpick what just happened: Gordon Brown claims that Tories have pulled out of a cross-party deal to introduce the change. The suggestion from No10 is that up until yesterday [...] read on »
Govt report backs 'free' data
I wasn't especially nice about the interim progress report on Power of Information Review, in that I didn't see much specific progress being reported. So it came as a bit of a shock to discover, courtesy of the Open Rights Group, that there's actually something really significant in it. The interim report announced that: HM [...] read on »