Public data

Open Government Note: Transparency in Public Finance – the role of good data

Stephen Richard — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 16:53:26 +0000

Open Government Note: Transparency in Public Finance – the role of good data

Primary Author or Creator

Common Weal

Stephen Richard Mon, 09/06/2021 - 17:53

Date Published

Fri, 10/20/2017 - 12:00

Category

Scottish government

Fast Facts

This Common Weal note examines how an Open Government approach to Public Finance data can improve its usability and transparency for citizens.

More details

― There are two primary issues with data for the public and for transparency – trust and usability. The former of these is crucial.

― Making numbers have meaning for people should be the primary public-facing aim of public data. But this should also carry an additional element – regular work should be done to systematically identify what information the public wants from public data.

― As a substantial user of public data, Common Weal regularly comes across the issue of comprehensiveness and consistency. Put very simply, often Scotland lacks crucial data because it is collected from across government rather than being coordinated by a central body.

― There should be a single portal for Scottish public sector data. This would clearly be aided by a single statistics agency. However, there is very widely varying practice out there on the presentation of data to the public – and clearly for openness the better and easier the presentation the more likely people are to feel data is useable.

― Almost everyone involved with public data will have had some experience of ‘obstructionism’ in gaining access to public data. Whether it is failure to publish, denial of Freedom of Information requests, use of ‘commercial confidentiality’ clauses, refusal to disaggregate date or provide methodologies or claims that ‘personal data’ can be inferred from larger data sources, there has simply been far too much ‘that’s for us to know and you to not know’ practice.

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Open-Government-Note-Transpa…

Keywords

Open government

Public finance

Government transparency

statistics collection

Public data

Language English

Scotland’s Data Desert: The case for a Scottish Statistics Agency

Stephen Richard — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 16:27:58 +0000

Scotland’s Data Desert: The case for a Scottish Statistics Agency

Primary Author or Creator

Craig Dalzell

Stephen Richard Mon, 09/06/2021 - 17:27

Additional Author(s) / Creators

Common Weal

Alternative Published Date

February 2018

Category

Scottish government

Type of Resource

Policy Paper

Fast Facts

This paper lays out the case for the formation of a Scottish Statistics Agency, funded to a level comparable to nations similar to Scotland, which has the power to fill vital gaps in the gathering, analysis and provision of statistics pertaining to Scotland as well as to curate a comprehensive and transparent database of statistics for public use.

More details

― Scotland’s level of statistical data provision marks it as the best served nation within the UK.

― However, there remains substantial gaps in provision and overall provision falls short of what would be expected to serve an independent country.

― Regardless of Scotland’s constitutional arrangements, better data provision is vital for the creation of better government policy and better management.

― Specific gaps have been identified in areas such as the regionalisation of data, the tax gap, GERS, Whole of (Scottish) Government Accounts, the National Register of Assets and Scottish import and export data.

― A Scottish Statistics Agency would be charged with identifying and filling gaps in statistical provision.

― The SSA may take the form of a single, centralised agency in which it is charged with collecting or commissioning the vast majority of statistical data.

― Alternatively it may be more of an overseer of a decentralised network of specialised data providers, a regulator to ensure the data meets a sufficiently stringent Code of Practice as well as maintaining a data portal to ensure access to the gathered data.

― Ideal budgeting is difficult to assess as they depend on the model employed. An SSA proportional in size to the UK’s would have a budget of £15 million per year and would employ 265 people. An SSA the size of Sweden’s would have a budget of £83.3 million and would employ 700 people.

― Where third party organisations are involved with gathering and manipulating data, a Code of Practice “kitemark” could be created which would indicate where such data meets the standards required for policy-making.

― Trust, transparency and ease of access to data are of paramount importance in this field and an ethos encouraging this should be built into the agency from the outset.

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Scotlands-Data-Desert.pdf

Keywords

Scottish Statistics Agency

Public data

Language English

Common Weal submission to economic data consultation

Stephen Richard — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 16:23:19 +0000

Common Weal submission to economic data consultation

Primary Author or Creator

Common Weal

Stephen Richard Mon, 09/06/2021 - 17:23

Alternative Published Date

February 2018

Category

Economy

Fast Facts

The progress of devolution has led to the Scottish Government assuming more direct control over economic policymaking in Scotland and recognition has grown that Scotland’s economy is in many ways distinct from the economies of other parts of the UK. Modern economies as a whole have grown more complex and more interconnected and ever more data driven.

Data has become an increasingly valuable resource and it is one which demands more attention, more scrutiny and more investment. Scotland therefore would greatly benefit from the creation of a single, dedicated Scottish Statistics Agency.

This consultation response to the Scottish Parliament’s Economic Data Committee outlines the case for such an agency and the key principles that it should be built upon.

More details

― International examples of data provision have shown that there are benefits to both a highly centralised model for a statistics agency but also benefits to a decentralised model whereby various departments gather deep but very specific data. Which model best suits Scotland is therefore open to discussion.

― Across Scotland, the quality of data provision is decidedly mixed. Often, the data can only be obtained via subsets of UK data which can mean that data sample sizes become smaller than may be appropriate for rigorous policy-making.

― However in other areas, particularly areas directly initiated by Scottish statisticians, the detail of data can exceed that which is found elsewhere in the UK.

― In many cases, the increased costs of data provision will be offset either directly via better tax collection (especially in the case of customs and borders) or indirectly by more efficient allocation of resources.

― There is scope for measuring metrics outwith “traditional” metrics such as GDP. Examples like measuring equality and life satisfaction could help drive development of a Wellbeing Economy.

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Common-Weal-submission-to-ec…

Keywords

Growth Commission

statistics collection

Public data

Wellbeing economy

Language English

Transparency in Public Finance – the role of good data

Stephen Richard — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 10:41:28 +0000

Transparency in Public Finance – the role of good data

Primary Author or Creator

Common Weal

Stephen Richard Thu, 09/02/2021 - 11:41

Date Published

Sat, 10/28/2017 - 12:00

Category

Scottish government

Type of Resource

Policy Paper

Fast Facts

― There are two primary issues with data for the public and for transparency – trust and usability. The former of these is crucial.

More details

Who benefits? One of the biggest issues of trust and data relates to 'who benefits?'. There is an enormous amount of public expenditure but it is not always easy to identify (a) who's pockets it ends up in and (b) whose interests the expenditure serves. This should be addressed by attaching to every piece of legislation or spending decision (over a certain threshold) a statement of who benefits (directly and indirectly) and by how much. Which private companies receive direct payment for delivery? This can then be checked against the lobbying register to identify whether they've sought to influence the decision that led to them receiving the money. Which interest groups benefit and by how much? Every sectoral lobby seeks to persuade us that what is good for them is good for everyone – so this should be publicly counted, How good is it for you in hard money terms? How good is it for everyone else in hard money terms? If government is making public-good decisions in an open and honest way, it should not only have no objection to this information but should positively welcome it.

Keywords

Government transparency

Government data

Public data

Public sector data

Language English