Finally got to see Tom Watson in person, presenting at 2gether08 about the Government initiative to provide more open access to public, non-personal data sets. Tom talked about the launch of a competition for social innovators and entrepeneurs to develop more effective products and services using government pulished provide more effective use of published information. More information about this on the ‘Show us a better way‘ website. This is one of the initiatives coming out of the Power of Information Taskforce that was created earlier this year.

Apologies for the shaky video, but key messages are all there.

As we start the New Year, it’s somehow comforting to know that…well, nothing is new!

The New Local Government Network, a policy think-tank, says there is "insufficient documented evidence that shared services are effective within local government" and current projects are "developing in silos" with very little knowledge sharing.  The claims come in a new report it has published on the barriers to shared services. The full report is available here. Download the_politics_of_shared_services.pdf