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Government announces extension of data transparency to schools, transport, health and criminal justice

The Prime Minister has outlined plans to make more data from the National Health Service, schools, criminal courts and transport providers available to the public as part its plans to increase public scrutiny of public services.

Claiming the that move represented “the most ambitious open data agenda of any government anywhere in the world”, the government said that new rules will require public bodies to release data in an open format, including that relating to the effectiveness of schools at teaching pupils, rail timetables, rail service performance, roadworks, current road conditions, car parks and cycle routes.

Other data covered by the announcement included the performance of hospital teams in treating lung cancer and other key healthcare conditions, prescribing data by individual GP practices and the sentencing records of criminal courts.

Local authorities will also be required to publish details of all contracts and tenders over £500 online. They are already required to publish all spending over £500 online.

The commitments were made in a letter from the Prime Minister to Cabinet colleagues, sent on 7th July, and commits the government to publish the following new data sets:

Education

  • Data enabling parents to see how effective their school is at teaching high, average and low attaining pupils across a range of subjects, from January 2012.
  • Anonymised data from the National Pupil Database to help parents and pupils to monitor the performance of their schools in depth, from June 2012.
  • School spending data, school performance data, pupil cohort data and Ofsted judgements, from January 2012, in a parent-friendly portal, searchable by postcode.
  • Data on attainment of students eligible for pupil premium to be published from January 2012.
  • Data on apprenticeships paid for by HM Government, by organisation and by success rate to be published from July 2011.

Transport

  • Data on current and future roadworks on the Strategic Road Network to be published from October 2011, and subject to consultation to extend this during 2012 to Local Authority Streetworks Registers maintained under statute.
  • All remaining Government-owned free datasets from Transport Direct, including cycle route data and the national car park database to be made available for free re-use from October 2011.
  • Real time data on the Strategic Road Network including incidents, speeds and congestion to be published from December 2011. Office of Rail Regulation to increase the amount of data published relating to service performance and complaints by May 2012.
  • Rail timetable information to be published weekly by National Rail from December 2011.


NHS

  • Data on comparative clinical outcomes of GP practices in England to be published by December 2011, following the lead of the NHS in London which has agreed a set of 22 indicators with local GPs.
  • Prescribing data by GP practice to be published by December 2011, as per the Growth Review.
  • Complaints data by NHS hospital so that patients can see what issues have affected others and take better decisions about which hospital suits them. This commitment will be met by October 2011.
  • Clinical audit data, detailing the performance of publicly funded clinical teams in treating key healthcare conditions, will be published from April 2012. This service will be piloted in December 2011 using data from the latest National Lung Cancer Audit, commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP).
  • Data on staff satisfaction and engagement by NHS provider (for example by hospital and mental health trust) will be published from December 2011.
  • Data on the quality of post-graduate medical education by provider from April 2012.

Criminal justice

  • Sentencing data by court will be published by November 2011, enabling the public to see what sentences are being handed down in their local courts, and compare different courts on a wide range of measures. The data, anonymised, will include the age, gender and ethnicity of those sentenced, the sentence given, and the time taken at each stage from offence to completion of the case in court.
  • Data on performance of probation services and prisons including re-offending rates by offender and institution. To be published from October 2011.
  • From May 2012, the national crime mapping website, Police.uk, will provide the public with information on what happens next for crime occurring on their streets, i.e. police action and justice outcomes.

Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, said: “Information enables choice - which creates competition which drives up standards. The new commitments represent a quantum leap in government transparency and will radically help to drive better public services. Having this data available will help people find the right doctor for their needs or the best teacher for their child and will help frontline professionals compare their performance and effectiveness and improve it. Making this kind of information accessible to all will change the way public services operate in the future – for example, it will give users control of their own records - and it will stimulate innovation and enterprise in the UK economy.”

The full text of the letter sent to ministers can be accessed at the following link: http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/statements-and-articles/2011/07/letter-to-cabinet-ministers-on-transparency-and-open-data-65383