Trading funds such as the Met Office or Ordnance Survey own a number of valuable datasets, and are required to cover their costs by selling data. An online survey, carried out by CSW with outsourcing firm Liberata last December, asked civil servants whether this funding model should be adjusted given the government’s wish to use public data to stimulate economic growth.
Nearly two thirds (58 per cent) of all respondents believed the model should change in some way. Of those who expressed an opinion, 37 per cent – the largest single group – believed that trading funds should be encouraged to launch more paid-for data services in order to subsidise the release of free data; 31 per cent replied that government should directly fund the publication of most data without charge; 17 per cent said that government should subsidise trading funds so they can release more data for free; and nine per cent argued to retain the existing model.
Over 1000 civil servants responded to the survey. Further results from the survey, which covered a variety of topics relating to open data, will be released soon.