Open policy making, Open Data and international cooperation are three pillars that UK Minister for the Cabinet Office Matt Hancock wants to be included in the 2015 UK Action Plan, according to a speech given by the minister to mark the launch of a new Open Government Partnership (OGP) action plan (Transcript is accessible on the gov.uk website).
The UK joined OGP in 2011 and implemented its first Action Plan for 2012- 2013 and is currently implementing its second plan for 2013-2015.
“Our next national Action Plan must itself be an exercise in open government: collaborative in design, transparent in process,” explained M. Hancock, stressing that citizen participation in policy making would be at the centre of the new plan. The minister added that two other key elements of Open Government are Open Data and the “Open Source nature of the agenda”.
Open Data leads to better accountability and better information management
In his speech, the minister reminded how Open Data leads to better accountability, makes people better informed and promotes “better information management” in the UK’s administrations. He cited several examples of data re-use in the country and how people and the public sector benefited from it. “When Whitehall departments started to publish travel data, we found that senior officials became more inclined to book themselves into economy class”, he commented.
But he also underlined the need for “more international cooperation on transparency”. “Over the next few months we must strengthen these ties” (between countries, members of the OGP Network), he added.
Citizen participation is also on the agenda with a clear focus on increasing people’s involvement. “We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of citizen involvement. Government is still largely something that is done to people, rather than with them. The open government agenda is a chance to recast that relationship”, the minister said.