Article: Three years in the life of UK national information policy – the politics and process of policy development Journal: International Journal of Private Law (IJPL) 2011 Vol.4 No.1 pp.1 - 31 Abstract: In three years since Ed Mayo|s and Tom Steinberg|s |Power of Information Review|, much attention has been focused on UK national information policy (NIP) as to how to render it fit for purpose in a Gov 2.0 environment. Since 2007, the importance of collecting, creating and sharing information in different formats has been a feature of policy. Despite these austere times, the intractable problem of funding public sector information provision, particularly from the trading funds, such as Ordnance Survey, has been under review. Problems continue, however, in translating the desire for reform into reality. At a time when a new coalition government is establishing policy, the fragility of these cross-government agendas can be seen. What is needed now is a clear understanding of how NIP feeds into broader ambitions of the knowledge economy, and how spatial information, data sharing and its exploitation can be used to promote better policies, facilitate social reform and build smarter government in the process. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Three years in the life of UK national information policy – the politics and process of policy development

Authors: Steve Saxby

Addresses: Faculty of Business and Law, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

Abstract: In three years since Ed Mayo|s and Tom Steinberg|s |Power of Information Review|, much attention has been focused on UK national information policy (NIP) as to how to render it fit for purpose in a Gov 2.0 environment. Since 2007, the importance of collecting, creating and sharing information in different formats has been a feature of policy. Despite these austere times, the intractable problem of funding public sector information provision, particularly from the trading funds, such as Ordnance Survey, has been under review. Problems continue, however, in translating the desire for reform into reality. At a time when a new coalition government is establishing policy, the fragility of these cross-government agendas can be seen. What is needed now is a clear understanding of how NIP feeds into broader ambitions of the knowledge economy, and how spatial information, data sharing and its exploitation can be used to promote better policies, facilitate social reform and build smarter government in the process.

Keywords: UK; United Kingdom; national policies; information policies; politics; political processes; policy development; Gov 2.0; Web 2.0; world wide web; internet; Power of Information; trading funds; public sector; funding; Ordnance Survey; independent reviews; Making Public Data Public; executive agencies; next-step agencies; government initiatives; smarter government; Ed Mayo; Tom Steinberg; information gathering; information formats; coalitions; cross-government agendas; knowledge economy; spatial information; data sharing; data exploitation; social reform; private law.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPL.2011.037891

International Journal of Private Law, 2011 Vol.4 No.1, pp.1 - 31

Published online: 28 Mar 2015 *

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Title: Three years in the life of UK national information policy – the politics and process of policy development

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