Head of Britain’s civil service in call to make UK Government the "most open" in the world
Exclusive: In an article for The Independent Sir Jeremy Heywood admits civil servants have been far better at collecting information than they have been at releasing it to the public
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The head of Britain’s civil service, and Britain's most senior civil servant, is to call for a transparency revolution in Whitehall to make the UK Government the “most open” in the world.
In an article for The Independent Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood openly admits that in the past civil servants have been far better at collecting information on schools, hospitals and crime than they have been at releasing it to the public.
But he promises that in future total transparency across Whitehall will become the norm “giving people the information they need to make choices about their lives” and highlighting “areas where the public sector is underperforming”.
His commitment is likely to mean that within a few years the public will be able to assess pupil performance by class, crime levels on every street and the success rate for every single operation in local hospitals from one single source.
The information will also be available in ‘raw’ format so businesses will be able to make use of it to make smart phone applications while academics be able to analyse it for trends.
Sir Jeremy admits that such data “won’t always be comfortable for the civil service or government” but argues that it is the best way to drive up standards in the public service.
“While we’ve been steadily improving the way we collect data, if we’re honest, historically the civil service has been less good at releasing it,” he writes.
“(But) transparency makes for better Government. The data we are releasing will provide a powerful incentive for improvement.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments