Fee or free – have your say
Jinfo Blog

20th June 2007

By Tim Buckley Owen

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Should the government be in the business of creating premium business content with taxpayers’ money – and then charging business users to access it? That’s the premise behind a new report commissioned by the Cabinet Office. Prepared by Ed Mayo, Chief Executive of the National Consumer Council, and Tom Steinberg, Director of the social networking space mySociety, ‘The Power of Information’ calls on the government to take a long, hard look at whether agencies such as Ordnance Survey, the Land Registry and Companies are acting in the best interests of UK PLC by charging premium rates for their data. ‘By Budget 2008, government should commission and publish an independent review of the costs and benefits of the current trading fund charging model for the re-use of public sector information, including the role of the five largest trading funds, the balance of direct versus downstream economic revenue, and the impact on the quality of public sector information,’ Mayo and Steinberg recommend. You can take a look at all their findings and recommendations at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/publications/reports/power_information/power_information.pdf. One crucial government premium content provider – the Office of National Statistics – does actually make the overwhelming majority of its data available free at the point of use. But it is having to prioritise – not least, one suspects, because it may have to take some tough decisions if its forthcoming move from London to Newport in South Wales results in a shortage of skilled government statisticians. Faced with the need to make 5% real savings a year from 2008 to 2012, it’s inviting users’ views on which areas should be given the highest priority for new investment, and – significantly – whether there are some areas that could be reduced in scope. Finally – and possibly with a view to moving further into the premium content business – it’s also welcoming views on innovative ways of funding its work. If you want to seize this opportunity to make your views known, you’ll need to email priorities.consultation@ons.gsi.gov.uk by 27 July. And finally, by way of background to all this, the soon to be replaced official watchdog the Statistics Commission has produced two reports that might help you marshall your thoughts. ‘The Use Made of Official Statistics’ reports on a survey by Ipsos MORI covering both public and private sector users – particularly the private sector’s ‘aggressive use of geodemography in the pursuit of markets’. It’s available at http://www.statscom.org.uk/uploads/files/reports/Report%2033%20Use%20Made%20March%2007.pdf. And ‘Data on Demand’ looks at how easy it is for both experienced researchers and novices to find and use UK official statistics through the Web, including mystery shopper research into finding statistics on topical issues. You can access it at http://www.statscom.org.uk/uploads/files/reports/Report%2034%20Data%20on%20Demand.pdf.

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