Citation
U.K. Cabinet Office, Open Data White Paper: Unleashing the Potential (Cm 8353) (June 2012) (full-text).
Overview
This White Paper set out how the U.K. Government intended to put data and transparency at the heart of government and public services. The document underlines the intention of the Central government to make it easier to access public data; easier for data publishers to release data in standardised, open formats; and engraining a "presumption to publish‟ unless specific reasons exist (such as privacy or national security).
These objectives are indicated as critical in relation to the full commitment to making Open Data an effective engine of economic growth, social wellbeing, political accountability and public service improvement in the United Kingdom. To frame a feasible public sector implementation of open government data (OGD), the paper highlights that after two years of having had the centre of government leading the initiative, government departments were expected to take a greater role in driving forward the efforts.
Therefore, alongside the White Paper, each government department published their first Open Data Strategy. Each strategy contains a department's commitments for proactively publishing data over the next two years and will complement their existing statutory publication schemes. These strategies represent an important step forward in the way the UK is making data readily and systematically accessible and are a core requirement of each department's activity.