UK.gov told data-sharing plans need vendor buy-in • The Register

"Government departments should mandate interoperability when procuring systems and establish audit trails to track data use in order to benefit from data sharing, a think tank has said. Whitehall has long struggled to make the most of the masses of data it holds, largely due to poor quality data and legacy systems that don’t talk to each other, as well as public unease. In a report (PDF) published this week, public sector think tank Reform set out 13 ways the government could change its fortunes – taking the position that data-sharing will benefit the public sector.

These focus on improving interoperability, giving public bodies the chance to test out data-sharing, training civil servants and creating data standards. The government has long championed data-sharing as a way of cutting costs, in its ongoing search for “efficiencies”, as well as improving public services – but efforts have been hampered by a litany of ethical, legal and technical issues. These include a lack of standard data formats and data infrastructure across government, while problems with legacy systems and poor interoperability are exacerbated by the number of vendors involved in public service delivery...."