A report by a committee of MPs criticized slow progress on implementing the 'transparency agenda' for government services. It was 'simply not good enough' for officials to publish large quantities of raw statistics that were incomprehensible to the general public. Much of the information was buried on websites and not accessed by most of the population. 4 in 5 visitors to the government's official data portal left the website immediately without bothering to download any information. The MPs also raised serious concerns about the quality of the data, saying that much of it was 'poorly presented and difficult to interpret'.
Source: Implementing the Transparency Agenda, Tenth Report (Session 2012–13), HC 102, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | RSS press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Aug
A study examined European Union citizens right to be informed and to enjoy their right to access information.
Source: Alexander Scheuer, Cristina Bachmeier, Leyla Rock, and Birgit Schmeyer, The Citizens' Right to Information: Law and policy in the EU and its member states, European Parliament
Links: Report part 1 | Report part 2 | Report part 3
Date: 2012-Aug
An audit report said that the coalition government needed a better understanding of costs, benefits, and use in order to assess whether its policy of greater transparency of public information was meeting the objectives of increasing accountability, supporting service improvement, and stimulating economic growth.
Source: Implementing Transparency, HC 1833 (Session 2010-2012), National Audit Office, TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release
Date: 2012-Apr