United Kingdom Design Report 2019-2021

The United Kingdom (UK)’s fourth action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... largely continues the themes from previous plans, and includes commitments to open up data, participation and policy-making processes. Political uncertainty during the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive... due to the ongoing Brexit negotiations delayed finalisation of the action plan and limited the scope of the commitments. For the next action plan, the UK could consider ensuring timely responses to freedom of information requests, as well as public oversight of public procurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... More and contracts related to COVID-19 response and recovery.

The Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) is a global partnership that brings together government reformers and civil society leaders to create action plans that make governments more inclusive, responsive, and accountable. The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... monitors all action plans to ensure governments follow through on commitments. The UK joined OGP in 2011. Since, the UK has implemented three action plans. This report evaluates the design of the UK’s fourth action plan.

General overview of action plan

The UK continues to be a global leader in many open government areas, though the uncertainty around the UK’s departure from the EU (Brexit) effected the scope and ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po... of the fourth action plan. The commitments build on previous plans, and include new initiatives intended to open up data, participation and policy-making processes.

Civil society stakeholders engaged in the co-creation process through participation in the Open Government Network (OGN) and proposed commitments to the Cabinet Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. However, political uncertainty and changes in government delayed the submission of the final action plan, which ultimately included only a few civil society proposals. Future processes could benefit from greater cross-departmental coordination within the government and the provision of specific feedback on how stakeholder proposals were considered.

Largely due to the reduced capacity of government officials and civil servants during the co-creation period, most of the commitments in the fourth action plan are somewhat limited in scope or simply continue from previous plans. However, some notable commitments include publishing more granular data on government contracts and in the Open ContractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C... More Data Standard format (CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... 4), and piloting “Area Democracy Forums” (citizen assemblies) in local authorities (Commitment 6).

Table 2. Noteworthy commitments

Recommendations

IRM recommendations aim to inform the development of the next action plan and guide implementation of the current action plan. Please refer to Section V: General Recommendations for more details on each of the below recommendations.

Table 3. Five KEY IRM Recommendations

Disclaimer: According to the UK’s fourth action plan, the organisation mySociety will be involved in the implementation of Commitment 6 (“Innovation in democracy programme”). Because Rebecca Rumbul, the IRM researcher, is an employee of mySociety, and to avoid potential conflict of interest, IRM staff carried out the assessment of Commitment 6 in this Design Report.