The Cabinet Office has today published an independent review of the impact of transparency on privacy, in line with an announcement made by Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude in December 2010
The review was commissioned to inform the Government’s approach to the release of data as part of the Transparency Agenda. It was led by Dr Kieron O’Hara, a Senior Research Fellow in electronics and computer science at the University of Southampton and an expert in the fields of privacy, trust and web science.
The Government believes that open government and open data have the power to transform the way government and society work for the better, by revealing variation in society and public services; and by re-establishing individual responsibility and local accountability for public service professionals.
Francis Maude, said:
This government is leading the way internationally in opening up public data. Over the past twelve months we have begun transforming the relationship between the public and the state. We are pioneers in the field of transparency. The public can now see how government spends its money; track crime in their area street-by-street; and hold ministers to account.
"The Government is committed to ensuring that on-going releases of data are done in a way that provides maximum transparency of data while applying the appropriate data protection safeguards.
Source: Cabinet Office
