The OGP was founded two years ago as ‘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’. Member countries – 60 at present – have to sign up to the Open Government Declaration and commit to: Increase the availability of information about governmental activities. Support civic participation. Implement the highest standards of professional integrity throughout our administrations. Increase access to new technologies for openness and accountability. As one of the researchers working on the Institute for Government’s Whitehall Monitor, I’m particularly interested in ‘the availability of information about governmental activities’ – the departments of open data and transparency within the open government agenda. As it hosts this week’s summit, London can make some claim to be the capital city of open data: The UK was one of the founding members of the OGP, which it currently chairs. The Prime Minister has referred to ‘a complete revolution’ in transparency brought about through data releases and said the UK’s leadership of the OGP will ‘drive a transparency revolution in every corner of the world’. The Cabinet Office’s Director of Open Data and Transparency, Paul Maltby, has […]

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