Press release

Open Data measures in the Autumn Statement

George Osborne announced in the Autumn Statement that government commitments to open up public sector data will improve travel, healthcare and growth for industry.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, as part of the government’s Autumn Statement, today announced that world-leading commitments by the government to open up public sector data will make travel easier and healthcare better, and create significant growth for industry and jobs in the UK.

The Open Data measures will boost investment in medical research and digital technology in the UK, including many small and medium sized enterprises. This will help realise the Prime Minister’s ambition to make Tech City one of the world’s great technology centres and create an environment where the next Apple or Skype could come out of the UK by making useful and valuable transport, health, weather and house price data available.

The measures will specifically:

  • improve medical knowledge and practice with world-first linked-data services which will enable healthcare impacts to be tracked across the entire Health Service and improve medical practice; the service is expected put the UK in a prime position for research investment
  • make business logistics and commuting more efficient through new planned and real-time information on the running of trains and buses across Great Britain and data on almost every road in Britain for the first time, including road works, for use in ‘satnav’ and digital technology
  • allow entrepreneurs to develop useful applications for business and consumers using the largest volume of open, free, high-quality weather data in the world along with house prices at address level
  • empower patients through individual access to their personal GP records online and encourage the market for education data management and learning platforms

Read the full list of measures here.

Published 29 November 2011