The RSS is delighted to hear that the Greater London Authority (GLA) is voluntarily adopting the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice in order to ensure the quality, trustworthiness and value of their local data and statistical outputs. It will be the first UK city administration to adopt the new Code.
The GLA produces and publishes a great many statistics through its award-winning data platform, the London Datastore. The open data helps the GLA understand the performance of key public services such as the police, transport and fire and rescue. They are also used by the London Assembly to stimulate democratic debate and hold the Mayor to account.
The RSS has been urging all of the newly elected metro mayors to sign up to the Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice in order to ensure the quality of local open data, six other newly elected metro mayors in May last year. We hope that these other regional administrations around the country will follow suit adopt the Code in due course.
The GLA will begin by applying the Code to a more limited set of statistical outputs, with the aim of extending these to more outputs over time, according to an advance publication timetable.