UK Open Government Initiatives are here

[Michael Hardner]

The future is now, folks.

PM David Cameron, at the end of May issued this letter to government departments.

A letter from Prime Minister David Cameron to Government departments on plans to open up Government data.

Greater transparency across Government is at the heart of our shared commitment to enable the public to hold politicians and public bodies to account; to reduce the deficit and deliver better value for money in public spending; and to realise significant economic benefits by enabling businesses and non-profit organisations to build innovative applications and websites using public data.

The Government must set new standards for transparency, and our Coalition Programme for Government sets out a number of specific commitments. The Government’s initial transparency commitments are set out below, alongside deadlines for publication. Limited exemptions on national security and personal privacy grounds will be permitted.

Reading further - including this:

Local government spending transparency

* New items of local government spending over £500 to be published on a council-by-council basis from January 2011.

* New local government contracts and tender documents for expenditure over £500 to be published in full from January 2011.

This will completely change how local governments work, obviously.

Also from the UK - Where Does My Money Go ? a project of the Open Knowledge Foundation - a cross-political group and "a not-for-profit organization aiming to promote open content and open data".

Their site is a little gimmicky and hard to use, but no matter. There is light shining in now.