David Cameron orders opening of books on hospitals, schools and courts

David Cameron: Orders opening of books on hospitals, schools and courts
12 April 2012

Prime Minister David Cameron is ordering a raft of information to be made public about the way hospitals, schools, courts and transport services are run.

As part of the Government's push to make publicly-funded organisations more transparent new records will begin to be released from October, he told Cabinet colleagues.

A "parent-friendly" website portal will be created to allow mothers and fathers to enter a postcode to reveal the latest Ofsted judgments, pupil performance levels and school spending rates in one go.

Assessments on teaching for high, average and low attaining pupils across a range of subjects will be released from January next year.

The NHS will have to publish complaints categorised by hospital to allow patients to take "better decisions" about which centre "suits them".

GPs in England will come under greater scrutiny with data on clinical outcomes to be published by December as well as their prescribing practices.
From November criminal courts will release all sentencing results giving the age, gender and ethnicity of offenders, though not their names.

Reoffending rates by offender and institution will be made available from October.
The public will also be able to keep the transport industry under a closer watch.

Information on roadworks on the Strategic Road Network is to be published from October.
Even information on cycle routes and national car park database will be made available.

In a letter to Cabinet colleagues the Prime Minister committed the Government to the new publishing targets.

He said: "Transparency is at the heart of our agenda for Government.

"We recognise that transparency and open data can be a powerful tool to help reform public services, foster innovation and empower citizens.
"We also understand that transparency can be a significant driver of economic activity.

"These commitments represent the most ambitious open data agenda of any government in the world."
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude will meet public sector workers and data industry representatives today to announce the plans.

He said: "Information enables choice - which creates competition which drives up standards.
"The new commitments represent a quantum leap in government transparency and will radically help to drive better public services.

"Having this data available will help people find the right doctor for their needs or the best teacher for their child and will help frontline professionals compare their performance and effectiveness and improve it.

"Making this kind of information accessible to all will change the way public services operate in the future - for example, it will give users control of their own records - and it will stimulate innovation and enterprise in the UK economy."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT