Stratford-upon-Avon: 23 - 24 September 2009

The presentations made at the AGI GeoCommunity '09 - 'Realising the Value of Place' conference have been published.

The presentations included one made by the Chair of the UK Locus Association Audrey Mandela on the 23rd September 2009 titled: Public Sector Information Policy: On the Right Track? The LOCUS presentation states why the playing field is not level (Slide 7)

• Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) has no real regulatory power
• OPSI obliged to support government policy – not all stakeholders
• PSI Holders have substantial resource to defend their business models. (OPSI’s entire annual budget is less that OS spends on lawyers alone)
• “Information Fair Trader Scheme” is an “agreement” designed to encourage best practice – not to enforce it. Not open to Judicial Review
• OPSI’s only sanctions are too nuclear
• The PSI Regulations exclude vital PSI and need tightening
• The National Audit Office remit is too high-level
• The Office of Fair Trading can only “investigate” 1 in 30 complaints
• Stimulating PSI re-use requires all barriers to be removed

The presentation ends by answering the question What is needed? (Slide 11)

• Decisions about what government should be doing in this space
• Information about what PSI is available
• Clarity about use conditions
• A level competitive playing-filed. Some Trading Funds are almost certainly acting anti-competitively. Privatisation is thus impossible.
• A review process that is relatively swift, low cost, open, adequately independent and robust.
• Transparent outcomes within a realistic timetable.
• Certainty that decisions will be implemented promptly

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