RSSeNEWS to be determined...

The coalition agreement between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats reached after the June election contains a commitment to greater government transparency. This includes a ‘right to data’ so that government-held datasets can be requested by the public and then published on regular basis.

As part of this transparency the Treasury has released data on expenditure from its COINS database – the Combined On-line Information System. This contains detailed expenditure and income data from across the public sector.

At present the format of the 24 million data items means it is likely that they will be most easily used by organisations that have the relevant expertise, rather than by individuals. But the idea is that, by having access to these data, institutions and experts will be able to process and present them in a way that is more accessible to the general public.

Subsets of data from the COINS database will be made available in more accessible formats later in the year. New requirements for local authorities to make data on spending available are also planned.

The coalition is committed to reforming school league tables and publishing detailed data about health care providers. More broadly is has said that it will ensure that all data published by public bodies is published in an open and standardised format, so it can be used easily and with minimal cost by third parties.

The coalition agreement is available online from the Cabinet Office and COINS from the Treasury.