Public sector staff know open data matters but fail to get government plan

The Guardian - Most public sector staff recognise the importance of open data – but don't understand the benefits of government transparency plans, a survey has revealed.

While 72% of the staff in the survey of open data understanding recognised that understanding data and its uses would be increasingly important over the next three years, 78% did not know about specific government open data initiatives or what their benefits would be.

Of more than 1,000 respondents across the UK public sector, 57% did not know how to access or interpret data sets, and 66% did not understand their personal role in delivering the open data agenda.

Just over half (52%) of those surveyed recognised that ready access to data and data standards would generate new enterprises, jobs and services in the public and private sectors, but 75% did not know what data was available outside their department to help develop new approaches to service delivery.