UK adjusts PSI charges
Source: Parliament, UK
UK Parliament considers PSI re-use issues
London: 14 December 2009, 5 January 2010, 6 January 2010
UK Parliamentarians raise questions on the UK Governments intentions on opening up public sector information re-use within the UK. Questions also have been raised regarding public sector information holders recent actions (Hydrographic Office) or proposed actions (Ordnance Survey) to ensure that the public sector pays the same prices as the others in the society that wish to use or re-use public sector information.
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Parliamentary material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO on behalf of Parliament
Public Sector: Information
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the announcement on 17 November 2009 on the Making Public Data Public initiative, what steps
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are being considered by the Government to increase the availability of public sector information to business, individuals and community organisations. [306350]
Mr. Timms: The Government's overall policies and plans for increasing the availability and re-use of public data are set out in "Putting the Frontline First: Smarter Government" (Cm 7753), published on 7 December.
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the terms of reference are for his Department's Making Public Data Public initiative; and if he will make a statement. [306484]
Mr. Timms: The terms of reference for the initiative led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee OM and Professor Nigel Shadbolt are as follows:
In the last two years the Government's work on the Power of Information has shown how the information revolution has the potential to transform Government and public services.
The Government have accepted all of the recommendations of the Power of Information Taskforce to open up access to Government information for free re-use.
In particular, and linked to its wider programme of Public Service Reform, the Government are committed to implementing and to extending to the wider public sector the principle that public sector information should be available under straightforward licences and in standard formats for others to re-use: the principle that public sector information should be public.
In the next six months, Sir Tim Berners-Lee will serve in an advisory capacity to the Minister for the Cabinet Office, and he will work with Professor Nigel Shadbolt to form a panel of technical and delivery experts to oversee the rapid implementation of key recommendations, including:
(1) Overseeing the creation of a single online point of access for all public UK datasets-and work with departments to make this part of their routine operations-with a live Beta site running by the end of the year.
(2) Bringing forward specific proposals to implement and extend to the wider public sector the public sector information principle, including:
- helping to select and implement common standards for the release of public data
- helping to select, develop and implement common terms for that data where necessary
- developing Crown Copyright and 'Crown Commons' licenses and extending these to the wider public sector
- supporting the exploitation and publication of distributed and decentralised information assets
- looking at the potential for reform of the information regulatory framework, working with the ICO and other experts to ensure that the regulatory regime supports the proactive publication of Government information
(3) Driving the use of the internet to improve Government consultation processes as proposed by the Taskforce and learning from the innovations already used by DIUS, the Cabinet Office and others.
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Other key areas in which Sir Tim Berners-Lee will advise the Government include:
(4) Working with the Government to engage with the leading experts internationally working on public data and standards, and to promote international liaison and global standards setting-an investment in future international data sharing.
(5) Helping to drive culture change in Whitehall toward an assumption of total publication for anonymous data using open standards.
The panel will work closely with the recently-appointed Director for Digital Engagement and other officials in the Cabinet Office, the Office for Public Sector Information (part of The National Archives), and the Technology Strategy Board.
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which public sector information holders are being considered under his Department's Making Public Data Public initiative; and if he will make a statement. [306485]
Mr. Timms: The Making Public Data Public initiative has initially focussed on public sector information holders in central Government Departments and agencies. The Government consider that the same principles should be extended to all public services, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced on 7 December that Professor Nigel Shadbolt will lead a Local Public Data Panel to work with local government to release local public data.
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what methodology was used to calculate the estimate that the implementation of the Making Public Data Public initiative could contribute £1 billion to the economy. [306486]
Mr. Timms: The Office of Fair Trading market study "Commercial Use of Public Information" (published in 2006) estimated that improving the way in which the market for public sector information worked could mean it would grow to over £1 billion per annum.”
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“5 Jan 2010 : Column WA55
Hydrographic Office
Question
Asked by Lord Berkeley
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office has raised its charges for the provision of hydrographic information to publishers of maritime charts by up to 100 per cent; and what assessment they have made of any safety issues arising from mariners using out of date navigation data due to the higher costs of purchasing new charts. [HL845]
The Minister for International Defence and Security (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has made no change to the licensing fees charged for reuse of its chart data in navigational products in 2009; as such there is no impact on safety.
UKHO has restructured the licence fees charged for the reuse of data in publications and merchandising products for non-navigational use. The licence agreement for this purpose does not allow use for navigation and requires the licensees to include a notice to that effect in their product, so there is no impact on safety.
This restructuring of licence fees was necessary for UKHO to be fully compliant with the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005, which require all reusers of data to make a fair contribution to the costs of creating the data. As a result some licensees, who have not been contributing enough, will now pay more and others, who have been overcontributing, will pay less.
There is no overall change in revenue to UKHO.”
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Maps: Databases
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what types of organisation would be entitled to free access to postcode datasets from April 2010 if such datasets were made available for reuse under the Smarter Government strategy; [308240]
(2) what assessment has been made of the likely effects on Government revenue if postcode datasets were made available for reuse as part of the Smarter Government strategy from April 2010. [308241]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Department launched a public consultation on 23 December 2009 in order to seek views and comments on what Ordnance Survey datasets should be made available for free re-use under the Making Public Data Public agenda. During the consultation period, the Department will engage with key stakeholders, including Royal Mail which owns the Postcode Address File database, in order to seek their views on elements of the proposals. A final decision on implementation will be taken in light of the outcome to consultation.
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“Housing: Databases
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 20 October 2009, Official Report, column 1393W, on housing: databases, what annual payment is made by the Valuation Office Agency to Ordnance Survey to licence the datasets to undertake the geo-referencing; what other payments are made by the Valuation Office Agency to Ordnance Survey in relation to the work; what the total monetary value of such other payments has been to date; and whether Ordnance Survey receives any data or benefit in kind from the Valuation Office Agency as part of this work. [308385]
Mr. Ian Austin: Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is entitled to receive a variety of Ordnance Survey datasets as a member of the Pan Government Agreement, for which it contributes to a central annual payment by Government under the terms of the agreement.
In addition Ordnance Survey and VOA have been working together to align their spatial address databases as part of their joint commitment to Smarter Government.
Under this collaboration, Ordnance Survey supplies VOA with a copy of OS MasterMap((r)) Address Layer 2 for which no charge is made by Ordnance Survey.
VOA has two address databases covering properties subject to council tax and premises subject to non domestic rates respectively. Under the joint collaboration, VOA provides Ordnance Survey with a copy of the council tax address data which Ordnance Survey matches to its own address database. Ordnance Survey provides
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VOA with information on any corrections to the post code information held within the VOA's council tax database, which have been identified by the address matching process. No charge is made by VOA for supplying the council tax address data and no payments are made by VOA to Ordnance Survey in respect of the information provided to VOA by Ordnance Survey as a result of the address matching work it undertakes.
Following the address matching process, Ordnance Survey includes the Valuation Office Agency's Unique Address Reference Number (UARN) within OS MasterMap Address Layer 2, and also within a table of cross references to others' unique address identifiers. This cross reference table is available from Ordnance Survey free of charge.
Ordnance Survey licences the non domestic rates address data from the VOA for address matching against Ordnance Survey's address database, on VOA's standard commercial terms”
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