Brown asks Berners-Lee to lead open government push

Posted on 11 Jun 2009 at 08:38

Prime minister Gordon Brown has asked Tim Berners-Lee to help make more government data readily available online.

The announcement forms part of the government’s plans for constitutional reform, which Gordon Brown unveiled in the House of Commons today.

Brown said he would be “extending the availability of official information” to help “spread the culture and practice of freedom of information”.

“And so that Government information is accessible and useful for the widest possible group of people, I have asked Sir Tim Berners-Lee who led the creation of the world wide web, to help us drive the opening up of access to Government data in the web over the coming month,” the prime minister said.

Quite what extra information the Government plans to make available isn’t clear, although the Cabinet Office has previously suggested it will follow the US model and make government statistics freely available online.

Brown also told the House of Commons that the government needs to do more to “spread the culture and practice” of freedom of information.

He said that the justice secretary, Jack Straw, “will set out further plans to look at broadening the application of freedom of information to include additional bodies which also need to be subject to greater transparency and accountability. This is the public’s money. They should know how it is spent.”

Author: Simon Aughton / Barry Collins

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