UK Gov release Smarter Government initiative

08 December 2009, 7:23pm

Prime Minister, Gordon Brown recently released an in-depth document, Putting the Frontline First: smarter government, which outlines £3bn of government savings over the next three years. Amongst a range of proposals, surveying and mapping, addressing information and geographic information are mentioned in several instances. Attention is specially drawn towards public access to government datasets and the role of agencies such as Ordnance Survey and Land Registry.

To quote "in order to drive 'transparency, effective government and innovation' the report mentions 'radically opening up data and public information ... including Ordnance Survey Mapping ... and making them free for re-use'." The report also underlines the Digital Britain initiative which was the subject of the keynote speech at the recent RICS Telecoms annual conference.

The document also includes a forward plan which states that government will: 'Consult on and release valuable public sector datasets - including mapping and postcode, Public Weather Service, detailed government expenditure, various transport and health datasets' and to 'Enable a single point of access for government held data through data.gov.uk'.

This latest Cabinet Office release follows on the earlier announcement about Ordnance Survey by the Prime Minister on the 17th November and further highlights the central role that mapping and geo datasets play in government information policy.

We forward to further clarity on issues such as what free mapping datasets are being targeted, what is meant by ‘freely available data’, what are the implications for related government agencies and how will the ‘definitive’ addressing dataset come into existence after so many false starts. RICS is also concerned that the re engineering of the Ordnance Survey business model as launched in early 2009 has not been taken into consideration and what effects this new document will have on the already formed Location Council.

RICS will monitor all these developments and intends to place a full and active part in the pending consultation on Ordnance Survey. This will run between mid December 2009 and early March 2010.

Operational Efficiency Programme - Asset Portfolio

In a related development, the Operational Efficiency Programme report has been published at the link below. This report includes a number of key RICS stakeholder bodies including British Waterways, Land Registry, Ordnance Survey, Public Forest Estate and the Met Office within the 'Asset Portfolio'. The document highlights a ominous range of 'alternative asset options' for organisations.

Source: RICS News release

Smarter Government release

Full report (PDF)

UK Location Council

Operational Efficiency Programme report

GeoConnexion