Open Data Forum: Encouraging openness and transparency

Devon County Council is continuing to open up more information about the council, its contracts and finances in a concept known as Open Data.

As part of the Council's commitment to accountability and transparency, there is a range of information available about how the council operates, its staff and what it spends.

Some examples of this are; details of all transactions that the council makes over £500, senior employee salaries, councillor allowances and expenses, contracts and tenders and grants to the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.

Also widely available is information on the level of support provided by the council to voluntary and community groups, the location of public land and buildings and financial information such as external audits and key information about the council’s fiscal and financial position.

An Open Data Forum has been established to bring together people from the public, commercial and voluntary sectors who share an interest in open data. Regular events are held and usually include a lightning talk on emerging topics of interest, occasionally a keynote speaker and a general discussion.

The next one is 22 October at The Generator 11-15 Dix's field, Exeter EX1 1QA from 7pm-9pm

Anyone is welcome to attend and join the forum.

Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control.

In the Council's case, all the data are made available under the Open Government Licence which means they can be reused. Where possible the data are also available to download on the council's webpage new.devon.gov.uk/factsandfigures/open-data

The council is also very keen to hear about any datasets that people would find particularly useful, as this will allow it to prioritise what it releases.  Comments can be left on the open data webage

Cabinet Member for Performance and Engagement, Councillor Barry Parsons said: "The objective behind making government data available to the public is that primarily it increases government transparency and accountability. It can also help people perhaps with a presentation, or for a business to develop an app which in turn drives economic growth and business innovation. I would encourage people to come along to the forum on October the 22nd to see how they could benefit."