Berners-Lee to help free Government data

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 10 Jun 2009 at 16:01

The Prime Minister has asked Sir Tim Berners-Lee to help make Government data more readily available online.

The announcement forms part of the Government's plans for constitutional reform, which Gordon Brown unveiled in the House of Commons today.

Mr Brown said he would be "extending the availability of official information" to help "spread the culture and practice of freedom of information".

"And so that Government information is accessible and useful for the widest possible group of people, I have asked Sir Tim Berners-Lee who led the creation of the world wide web, to help us drive the opening up of access to Government data in the web over the coming month," the Prime Minister said.

Quite what extra information the Government plans to make available isn't clear, although the Cabinet Office has previously suggested it will follow the US model and make Government statistics freely available online.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee's secondment is the second high-profile tech appointment in less than a week. Last week Gordon Brown announced that former Amstrad impresario and Apprentice star, Sir Alan Sugar, will become the Government's new enterprise tsar.