<div>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 30px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; "><b>ORG Open Data Update</b></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">August is proving a busy time for open data. There are several initiatives and consultations that end in the following weeks.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 22px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); "><b>Postcodes licensing</b></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">Hundreds of ORG supporters joined many others, including Tim Berners-Lee, in asking minister Michael Fallon not to privatise the Postcode database. Our pressure was not enough to stop the sell-off, but we managed to get Fallon to offer an olive branch in the form of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-mail/10121724/Free-access-for-micro-firms-to-postcode-database-after-Sir-Tim-Berners-Lees-protest.html"><span style="color: #0e6ea1">free access for “micro-firms”</span></a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">This is clearly not enough, and we need to continue reminding the government that the Postcodes are part of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/207600/Government_Response_to_Shakespeare_Review_of_Public_Sector_Information.pdf"><span style="color: #0e6ea1">core national</span></a> data the government plans to open up.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">We have an opportunity to raise this issue once again. There is a <a href="http://www.poweredbypaf.com/licensing-centre/public/assurance"><span style="color: #0e6ea1">consultation on new licensing for the Postcode database</span></a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">The consultation closes at 5pm on Friday 20th September.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 22px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); "><b>UK Transparency: National Action Plan for the Open Government Partnership</b></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">The UK government has published its second Open Government Action Plan, a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">Civil society groups - including ORG - have been contributing to drafting this plan over the past few months. The process has been positive, but we feel that many critical issues are not included. These have been listed in the Annex.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">The draft plan is available for consultation <a href="applewebdata://82841CAB-B9CE-4B30-B81D-2569C6295E3A/%C2%A0https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/open-government-partnership-uk-draft-national-action-plan-2013"><span style="color: #0e6ea1">HERE</span></a>. But a quicker way to engage is to simply comment online on this <a href="http://personal.crocodoc.com/PocnOx6"><span style="color: #0e6ea1">interactive platform</span></a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">Both channels are equally valid. Consultation responses will be analysed jointly by the Cabinet Office Transparency Team and members of the civil society network.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">This draft plan is now open for consultation until 19 September 2013.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">The plan will be presented at the OGP summit in London on the 31st of October. ORG is organising some <a href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2013/tackling-thorny-issues-at-the-ogp-london-summit"><span style="color: #0e6ea1">sessions at the summit on privacy and surveillance</span></a>, and we will keep you posted nearer the date. You can pre-register <a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/news/do-not-miss-2013-ogp-summit-pre-register-now"><span style="color: #0e6ea1">here</span></a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 22px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); "><b>Public Administration Select Committee calls for evidence on open data</b></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">The Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) of the UK Parliament is conducting an inquiry into statistics and open data in Government, with a focus on the progress of the Government in implementing its Open Data strategy. This is part of PASC’s programme of work on statistics and their use in government.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">Further information is available <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-administration-select-committee/inquiries/parliament-2010/statistics/statistics-open-data/"><span style="color: #0e6ea1">here</span></a>. The deadline is 12 noon on Tuesday 3 September 2013.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 22px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); "><b>HMRC consultation on data sharing</b></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">HMRC wants to be able to share more non-identifying information, including general and aggregate data as well as anonymised data sets. HMRC also seeks views on proposals to share VAT registration data, either publicly or under controlled conditions for specified purposes, for example, credit rating.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">There are <a href="http://blog.okfn.org/2013/07/30/open-tax-data-or-just-vat-open-wash/"><span style="color: #0e6ea1">concerns</span></a> that the proposals don’t go far enough from an open data perspective, and may end up simply funnelling valuable public data to large data brokers such as Experian that already know a lot about us. There are also obvious privacy risks involved in any mass sharing of anonymised data.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">The consultation closes on 24 September 2013.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 19px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(16, 16, 16); ">Data sharing is looking to become a big issue in the near future. ORG had a meeting with the Law Commission on this topic in July. They are planning to consult on changing the legal grounds for data sharing within government. Currently, departments have to prove the sharing serves a specific purpose linked to their mission. The proposals will make sharing the default.</p><div><br></div>
</div>
<div><div><br></div></div>