Algemene Rekenkamer

Netherlands Court of Audits (NCA)
1 Mandatory publication
Greater availability ensured

Make publication of open data mandatory

Making publication of open data mandatory would ensure greater availability of open data. The examples of the United Kingdom and the United States show that compulsory publication can increase the availability of open data almost immediately.

2 Open data at work

Put open data to work, for example in the decentralisation of social services

Use open data to inform the current decentralisation of social services and the reform of long-term health care and to feed the National Information Infrastructure. Open data can be a means for all stakeholders (clients, care providers, public authorities) to start a dialogue on the impact of decentralisation, the quality of care and the macro cost of care. A common language (open data) would make it easier to discuss problems and solutions. The Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations should take the lead in this.

3 Concrete action plan

Set ambitions and milestones in a concrete action plan

Use the findings of the government-wide data analysis currently being carried out by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations to make concrete agreements among the ministries and with the House of Representatives on the publication of specific datasets. Also set a date for publication.

4 National information infrastructure

Develop a National Information Infrastructure

The government should use the government-wide data inventory to ascertain what data are of the greatest social importance and what data should in any event be open. The uk National Information Infrastructure can serve as an example.

Background

On the whole, the Netherlands scores relatively well on the various international benchmarks and features in the top ten in most of them. If we look at the number of datasets, however, the Netherlands lags behind the two leading countries: the United Kingdom and the United States. Furthermore, the data that are published relate mainly to 'knowledge data', such as mapping data and public transport times. Only limited data on what the government does and can be held to account to the public ('action data') are published. The Minister for Foreign Trade and Development is a positive exception.

Objectives

Trends in implementation of open data policies.

The items above were selected and named by the e-Government Subgroup of the EUROSAI IT Working Group on the basis of publicly available report of the author Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI). In the same way, the Subgroup prepared the analytical assumptions and headings. All readers are encouraged to consult the original texts by the author SAIs (linked).