UK Chancellor George Osborne has said the governemnt’s ambition is to make the UK a world leader in open data.
Speaking at Google’s Zeitgeist event 2011 in Hertfordshire, Osborne said, "Our ambition is to become the world leader in open data, and accelerate the accountability revolution that the internet age has made possible."
Osborne said that government servers will be opened up to the public in a year’s time that will increase the choices available for people.
He said, "A year from now web sites and services will use this data to help the public find answers to questions like: ‘Which is the right GP for my family?’, ‘What’s the quality of teaching like in my local school?’."
Osborne said that public reforms would be shifted online.
He said, "In all our reforms we assume that public service delivery can be shifted online, and officials and ministers have to justify why any aspect is to be delivered through traditional offline channels."
"The Treasury and Inland Revenue has already moved to online-only corporation tax returns. We’ll be doing the same for all the main business taxes."
However, in the same conference, Osborne turned the attention of people to the increasing threat of cyber attacks which the government is facing.
He told the conference that the UK was under daily cyber attack from hostile agencies, adding that the Treasury alone faces an average of more than one attack per day.
He said, "During 2010, hostile intelligence agencies made hundreds of serious and pre-planned attempts to break into the Treasury’s computer system. This makes the Treasury one of the most targeted departments across Whitehall."
