Articles

UK transparency ranking demonstrates “felt accountability”, says Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude

Scientist and entrepreneur Hermann Hauser spoke to CSW about the success of the Catapult Centres 

Service integration and management of multi-supplier IT services (SIAM) is just one of a many IT functions that will be brought in-house, the government’s chief technology officer Liam Maxwell tells CSW

The Home Office’s system of recording and assessing immigration and customs allegations is improving Home Office results but needs further work, said the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration’s report last week. 

"I trailblazed freedom of information on Whitehall"

 

Dataset  _Land use statistics

Data owner  _The Office for National Statistics

Accessed at  _http://bit.ly/1r4Vj7g

Contact  _access2data@ons.gsi.gov.uk

Interviewee  _Jeni Tennison, Open Data Institute

Government is in the enviable position of having lots of data about its citizens. But the current culture, systems and processes make it difficult to unlock the insight held within that data to better understand citizens, improve services and drive efficiency.

 

How can civil servants unlock the value of government data? Stuart Watson reports from a debate on the benefits and challenges of data sharing. Photos by Paul Heartfield

‘Big data’ has huge potential – but it’s stoking public concerns over privacy. Ipsos MORI’s Gideon Skinner and Anne Charlton explain the latest research.

John Pullinger has this month started his new job as the UK’s new national statistician. He tells Winnie Agbonlahor about his priorities in the role.

Companies House is to make all of its digital data available for free from April 2015.

The government’s controversial patient record-sharing programme care.data, paused in February after noisy opposition, will be restarted as a pilot this autumn, according to NHS England’s national director for patients and information Tim Kelsey.

Today there is a growing need for organisations to provide seamless and transparent information sharing amongst employees; whether it is visibility of employee goals at different levels within the company to ensure alignment between the individual and the businesses objectives or reporting on financial targets. 

Government spending on outsourcing contracts rose by 23% to £1.2bn between 2012 and 2013, bringing the two-year total to £2.3bn, while expenditure in most other sectors fell by between 1% and 20%, according to analysis of public sector transactions carried out by the Institute for Government (IfG).

The outgoing National Statistician has called for an end to the practice of giving ministers access to official statistics before their release.

During her 30-year civil service career, national statistician Jil Matheson has seen a lot of change. The UK Statistics Authority chief discusses the ever-evolving roles of data-crunchers with Suzannah Brecknell

This 2 min 49 second video will help you to really understand what the art of the possible is and how using big data technologies can change the way the world does business.

Government bodies increasingly rely on analytics to turn data into insights and optimise programmes to better serve citizens. Learn more of how SAS is helping govern the future with the power of analytics – view this short video.

John Pullinger, the incoming chief executive of the UK Statistics Authority, has warned that the poor use of data and targets risks “skewing the way we understand the world” rather than improving it.

The government’s new horizon-scanning programme is “flawed” and contains “substantial weaknesses,” according to the Science and Technology Select Committee.

Three quarters of British people view strong data security as the most important feature of government’s online services, according to a survey carried out by YouGov for Deloitte, and nearly one fifth of people avoid using digital services because they don’t want to share data online.

There should be a single point of contact for citizens wishing to make complaints about government and a new minister for policy on complaints handling, the Public Administration Select Committee has said.

Jil Matheson, the national statistician, head of the Government Statistical Service chief executive of the UK Statistics Authority, is to retire this summer, it has recently been announced.

The Public Administration Select Committee wants the creation of an independent commission into the civil service. The PM has so far given a firm ‘no’ – but its chair, Bernard Jenkin, won’t let up. Joshua Chambers meets him