Page 3070 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I also commend the UK government—that is, the national government—for the work they are doing in this space. A report entitled Making open data real: a public consultation in August 2011 by the Rt Hon Francis Maude included the following:
Openness is at the heart of this Government’s approach. Open Government and Open Data have the power to transform absolutely the way government and society work for the better. Transparency is above politics. It will reveal variation in our society and our public services, re-establishing individual responsibility and local accountability for public service professionals.
He went on:
Fundamentally, we want to be open about what we do. Open about what we spend. Open about how public services work. Open about making them better. And so we propose reform of the whole of the public sector along open, transparent and accountable lines. What we are doing is not just a first for Britain; these proposals represent our determination to be the most ambitious Open Data agenda of any government in the world.
I want the ACT to match his determination to have the most ambitious open data agenda of any government in the world. The report also included the following paragraph:
Accountability of spending is also particularly important since government and public services spend money on behalf of citizens and service users. This demands a higher standard of scrutiny about value for money, efficiency (minimisation of waste) and productivity. As examples from healthcare (eg the Swedish disease-based data repositories) and local authorities (eg Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead) show, transparency creates the possibility for public scrutiny, enables learning from best practice and drives up productivity as a result.
In the UK the Department for Communities and Local Government has asked local councils in England to publish spending information over £500 online. In fact, the UK goes further, with the salaries of top public servants also published online. Much of the mood towards this increased transparency has been sparked by the Taxpayers Alliance in the United Kingdom. I commend the founders, Matthew Elliott and Andrew Allum, for setting up the organisation in 2004.
Many states in the United States of America have similar disclosures. I point members to the Illinois transparency and accountability portal, transparency Connecticut, open Georgia, Arizona—open books, transparency and accountability project Minnesota, New Jersey online checkbook, Ohio transparency, Oregon transparency, and many others. To expand on just one of those:
The Illinois Transparency & Accountability Portal is presented to the citizens of Illinois as a single point of reference to review how their tax dollars are being spent to support state government programs. The Illinois Transparency & Accountability Portal includes information about state employee pay, state agency expenditures, state agency contracts, corporate accountability and professional licences.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video