1. Open data as an operating
model in the public sector
John Sheridan
25 September 2012

4. s to
rvice ent
Se rnm
gove
Service
development
Services to the public

5. legislation.gov.uk experience
● UK's legislation website
○ legislation from 1267 to present day
○ provided as open data through API
○ several data re-users of different types
● General lessons are more widely applicable
○ bodies whose public task involves some data
○ think statistics, consultations, service provision

6. Open data
● All the information on legislation.gov.uk is available as open
data under the terms of the Open Government Licence
● To access the data, visit any page and add:
○ /data.xml
○ /data.rdf
○ /data.xht
● For lists
○ /data.feed

7. Publisher
Intermediary
Consumer
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

8. Publisher
data
Intermediary
Consumer
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

9. Publisher
data
Intermediary
service
Consumer

10. Publisher
data payment
Intermediary
service
Consumer

11. Publisher
data payment
- links
- snippets
- dumps
- searches Intermediary
- updates
service
Consumer

12. Publisher
data payment
- links
- snippets
- dumps
- searches Intermediary
- updates
service
- provision Consumer
- integration
- analysis
- visualisation
- interpretation

13. Publisher
data payment
- links
- snippets
- dumps
- searches Intermediary
- updates
service
- provision Consumer
- integration
- analysis
- visualisation
- interpretation

14. Benefits
● Innovation by intermediaries
● New products and services for consumers
● Economic growth

15. Publisher
data payment
Intermediary
service
Consumer
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

16. Publisher
data payment
Intermediary
provenance
service
Consumer
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

17. audience
Publisher
data payment
Intermediary
provenance
service
Consumer
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

18. Benefits
● Improved reach
● Intermediaries deliver your channels strategy
● For legislation.gov.uk, this includes iPhone / iPad
applications, eBooks, tailored value added products for
specific audiences

19. Publisher
data payment
Intermediary
service
Consumer
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

20. Publisher
data payment
inf
orm
Intermediary ati
on
service
Consumer
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

21. Publisher
data payment
inf
orm
Intermediary ati
on
cu
sto
service mi
sa
tio Consumer
n
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

22. Publisher
data payment
inf
orm
Intermediary ati
on
cu
sto
service mi
sa
tio Consumer
n
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

23. guarantees
Publisher
data payment
inf
orm
Intermediary ati
on
cu
sto
service mi
sa
tio Consumer
n
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

24. guarantees - accurate
- reliable
- timely
Publisher
data payment
inf
orm
Intermediary ati
on
cu
sto
service mi
sa
tio Consumer
n
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

25. Where is the benefit to the publisher?
● Example, the trouble with legislation

28. Maintaining legislation data
● For primary legislation we currently identify and apply:
○ Textual amendments
○ Non-textual amendments
○ Extents
○ Commencements
○ Savings and provisos
● We create point in time versions with annotations
● This involves extracting meaning from legislative texts in the
form of structured data, which can be used by editors to
create new versions showing the changes

29. The challenge
● Primary Legislation
○ In-house team applies ~10,000 effects per annum
○ Parliaments and Assemblies now make ~15,000 new
effects
○ There is a 100,000 “debt” of unapplied effects
● Secondary Legislation
○ Requirement to produce Tables of Effect for Annual
Bound Volumes
○ No updated versions

30. guarantees
Publisher
data payment
Intermediary
service
Consumer
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

31. guarantees
Publisher
data payment
Intermediary
maintenance
service
Consumer
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

32. guarantees
Publisher
data payment
Intermediary
maintenance
- collection
- correction service
- expertise Consumer
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

33. guarantees
Publisher
data payment
Intermediary
maintenance
- collection
- correction service
- expertise Consumer
* Thanks to Jeni Tennison, the creator of the original version of these

34. Expert Participation
● Publicly available, official, free, open and up to date, revised
primary and secondary legislation
● We are inviting others to work with us towards this goal
● Memorandum of Understanding with participating
organisations
● Introducing new processes and tools, so we can collaborate
with participants to create and maintain new revised
versions of legislation
● The National Archives provides tools and training. We are
also the guardians and arbiters of editorial practice and
quality

35. Open data as operating model
● Private sector values high quality public data
● Value official status, processes and controls
● Willing to collaborate and invest resources in Open
Government Data
● We are enabling Expert Participation on the basis of Open
Data
● We’re showing how Open Data:
● Helps to deliver services
● Helps to reach new audiences or existing audiences through
new channels
● Underpins feedback loops, that improves the quality of your
data and service