WIREDGOV

The CMA is seeking views on the current state of the market from public sector information holders and users. 

Commercial use of public information was worth around £1.8 billion in 2013 according to the government-commissioned Shakespeare review. In 2006, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) recommended that more information held by the public sector should be made more readily and more cheaply available for commercial re-use.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has commissionedDotEcon to undertake an evaluation of the 2006 OFT work. We want to find out how the OFT’s recommendations have affected the availability of public sector information (PSI), and to estimate the benefits that can be attributed to the OFT study.

To do that, DotEcon need to gather evidence from the industry to understand the current state of commercial use of PSI, and in particular:

• whether PSI holders have changed their behaviour in providing PSI (eg in terms of amount of data supplied, quality, pricing and licence terms)

• whether users still find problems in the market, especially where related to the competition concerns identified in the commercial use of public information (CUPI) market study

DotEcon wants to hear the views of PSI holders and PSI users. To facilitate this DotEcon and the CMA will hold open workshops in November to give PSI holders and users a chance to comment on the current state of PSI-related markets, hypotheses about the impact of the OFT study and any remaining concerns or challenges.

This will be an excellent opportunity to influence the CMA’s view of the market for the commercial use of PSI and how the CMA should use its powers to influence the development of public service markets.

If you hold or use PSI, and are interested in participating, please let us know by emailing cupi-evaluation@dotecon.com, providing a brief overview of your involvement with PSI. We will then send you further information about the most appropriate event for you