1. Summary

1.1 This is the final report of the Review of Government Information. The review was commissioned as part of the Cross-Cutting Review of the Knowledge Economy, part of the Government Spending Review 2000. The terms of reference for the review are at Appendix B.

1.2 Information is the fuel of the knowledge economy. The traditional information market in the UK was estimated to be worth about £13 billion and the value of the electronic information some £4.4 billion in 1997. Surveys of internet usage in the UK give a dynamic picture of substantially increasing numbers of people using the internet over time with almost 20 million users in 2000.

1.3 It is generally accepted that information derived from the statutory and normal workings of government forms the largest single information resource in a developed economy. In the new knowledge economy, "infomediaries" can aggregate and repackage apparently disparate data sets for end-users. But the importance and potential value of the information collected by and for departments and agencies may not always be fully appreciated within government and there appear to be obstacles which currently prevent its widespread re-use.

1.4 The review accepts that the development of the government information sector is of considerable importance in the growth of the UK's information sector and that information intermediaries have the key role to play in delivering products and services based on government information.

1.5 The Government's role in the information market is not insignificant. Much more needs to be done across departments and agencies in general to get information on-line. But in some areas the public sector's role is highly developed, stretching considerably beyond the collection and dissemination of the material the government needs for its own purposes. In areas such as mapping and meteorology the government is a generator of information and services of value to the whole economy and trading funds such as the Ordnance Survey and the Meteorological (Met) Office accounted for some 90% of the £340 million publishing and licensing income of the Government in 1998/9.

1.6 The role government plays in this market may be significant but there is a perception that it lacks clarity. This needs to change. Whether in relation to those areas where it is already a source of information for commercial re-use or in the departments and agencies where there is much more to be done the government should use its key role to help to grow the market for services based on its information whilst meeting the highest standards of fair competition where it competes directly.

1.7 The review concludes that there is more that can be done to improve access to government information. It accepts that government needs to raise its profile in this area by defining and explaining its role in the sector more clearly, setting out new and stretching service standards and abiding by them.

1.8 Unlocking further the potential of government has led the review to look in detail at three key questions:

Does the way in which the government prices its information create a barrier to its commercial re-use?
The current policy of average cost pricing certainly creates the need for relatively more complex licences. Could licensing be simplified further?
Simpler licences would in turn help to address the issue of departmental inertia whereby departments and agencies are felt by industry too often to be unable to respond in a timely manner to requests for information and licences.

1.9 The report considers these issues in turn.

The Price of Government Information

1.10 Normal Treasury policy for the generality of charging is that charging services should recover full costs except where Ministers have agreed, as a matter of policy, to recover less, or where the service is provided in competition with the private sector when, in the interests of fair competition, the price charged should approximate to the market price.

1.11 The key issue for the review is whether this policy, in relation to information, leads necessarily to more complex licences and thereby contributes to departmental inertia. The review thinks that on balance it does and it has considered the case for a move to a simple policy of marginal cost pricing for all government information.

1.12 The report considers the case for such a move in the light of:

government's role in the information market. Government is active in a number of markets in which it is neither the main customer nor the principal beneficiary and it provides services which have significant added value; and,
information's economic characteristics. Because the marginal cost of making information available is low and the fixed costs of production are high, marginal cost pricing would shift the burden of covering fixed costs from consumers to the taxpayer. Raising taxation to meet these costs generates further distortions in the economy.

1.13 As a result the review concludes that the benefits to the economy of such a policy of marginal cost pricing for all government information are far from certain.

1.14 The case for marginal cost pricing is weakest in the government's trading funds - commercial arms of government that are already most active in the information business. These include the Met Office, Ordnance Survey, the UK Hydrographic Office and HM Land Registry.

1.15 The review concludes that the case for marginal cost pricing has rather more merit in relation to the majority of departments and agencies. Here information is more generally collected and disseminated for government's own purposes and the licensing of material is a less developed activity. The current policy of average cost pricing creates a significant barrier to the re-use of information because it requires parts of government, where this is not core business, to make assessments and attributions of relevant costs and negotiate individual contracts in an area in which many departments and agencies are ill-placed to operate. Marginal cost pricing would remove this burden from both the department concerned and the private sector.

1.16 The recommendation of the review is therefore that Government trading funds which trade information should improve their pricing and dissemination polices; but elsewhere (in departments and agencies other than trading funds) that there should be a move to an immediate policy of marginal cost pricing (unless, in any specific case, a statutory enactment indicates otherwise). This should apply to the licensing of raw data.

1.17 However, all government bodies, including those for whom the general rule of marginal cost pricing applies in relation to raw data should still be free to develop value-added services charged at market prices. This should preferably occur through partnership with the private sector under the Treasury's initiative Selling Government Services Into Wider Markets provided that this can be achieved in a transparent manner and in a way which creates a level playing field among all market participants.

The Licensing of Government Information

1.18 In the Performance and Innovation Unit Report, "e-commerce@its.best.uk" the Government committed itself to investigating a wider class licence model to simplify the licensing process. A working draft licence has been endorsed by the Government Crown Copyright User Group and agreed as a satisfactory mechanism to create a click-use-pay environment though the precise scope of its application has yet to be finalised.

1.19 The review recommends that the draft class licence should be finalised in the light of the other recommendations of the review, agreed by the Crown copyright User Group and implemented as soon as possible.

1.20 In addition we would also recommend that consideration should be given to levying annual fees where a data set or information source has been particularly expensive to collect - so that the commercial re-use of this data is subject to a fixed annual fee set at a level designed to make a contribution to overhead costs but preclude the necessity of negotiations.

Countering Departmental Inertia: Remedies for Users and the Simplification of the licensing Process

1.21 The vision emerging from the wider review is of a Government which is "open for business".

1.22 In delivering our vision of a government that is "open for business" there are clear links with the work in this review and that of the wider review on electronic service delivery. In that arena we also want a situation where private sector and voluntary organisations can use government content. This will help facilitate, or even provide, government services (for example Help the Aged might want to provide government services through a pensioners portal). So there is a need to facilitate the exploitation of government information.

1.23 To ensure that this occurs, we recommend that HMSO should operate as a central point of contact for businesses which wish to repackage government content and services. HMSO would help navigate the private sector around government, and ensure that for their part departments are cooperative.

1.24 There is a complementary need in relation to the reuse of government information for a central focus - a body to make the government business interface work better. The central body would have the following functions:

Whitehall Sherpa - act as a guide around departments and processes for private sector companies;
promoting dialogue with the private sector - ensuring a level playing field - help to ensure that departments comply with requests to release data, and that the quality of services are the same for private and public sector customers;
in due course to provide a single point of licensing for most Crown copyright.

1.25 It is recommended that, subject to a number of detailed points arising from the review, a repositioned HMSO should be established as the regulatory body for government content.

1.26 The new body will need to develop the currently limited suite of options open to HMSO to regulate the re-use of government content. In particular:

the ability to require minimum standards of departments
a new complaints procedure which provides real and credible remedies where departments fail to adhere to their published service standards.

1.27 The review group recommends that as soon as possible a consultation paper should be issued on the future role and scope for the new regulatory body elaborating upon the proposals set out in the report.

The review also recommends:

that delegations of authority for the reuse of information, except for trading funds, should be rescinded on a timetable in line with the introduction of the new charging and licensing arrangements;
that the new regulatory body should develop proposals for a licensing task force comprising its own and Treasury staff whose remit will be to work closely with individual agencies (starting with the trading funds) to bring charging polices and licences into line with those set out in this report;
that proposals should be developed for the publication of departmental and agency compliance league tables for publication.

Other issues

1.29 This review has considered Crown copyright - the form of intellectual property protection applicable to most of central government. The review recommends that, upon acceptance of this report, public sector copyright owners other than the Crown, such as local authorities and non-departmental public bodies should be asked to review their charging and licensing and access strategies and align them with the more liberal approach being proposed in relation to Crown copyright.

1.30 The public has a right to access material in a form which is reasonably accessible. In the digital era this includes electronic form. We therefore recommend that there should be a presumption in favour of public information being made available in digital format and a prohibition on exclusive arrangements between departments and agencies and the private sector for the digitisation of public sector information where this unreasonably restricts access and/or commercial reuse of the material.

1. Summary

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