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The European Commission has launched a consultation into the operation of the Directive on the Re-use of Public Sector Information, which runs until 12 December.

While the consultation is open to anybody to submit a response, a single return for the UK government is now being co-ordinated by The National Archives working in partnership with DCMS and officials in other government officials.

Land & Property Services, Northern Ireland (LPS) has been re-accredited to the Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS). The report on the verification of LPS against the IFTS principles has been published and can be found on our IFTS members page.

The annual report of the Queen’s Printer for Scotland for 2015-2016 has been published, detailing activities to support the publication of legislation for Scotland and implementation of the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations in Scotland.

Digital and Culture Minister Matt Hancock spoke on the consultation on the new strategic vision for archives before addressing the DCDC16 Conference in Salford. His address covers digitisation of archive content and digital innovation at 1 min. 25.

The National Archives has published the United Kingdom Report on Public Sector Information 2015, which reviews UK government activity in the period 2013-2015, including the introduction of the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations.

New guidance for civil servants, ministers and other officers and servants of the Crown who submit articles to academic journals has been published on the Crown copyright page of The National Archives website.

The National Archives standards team is conducting an Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS) verification of Land & Property Services, NI (LPS) in the week of 17 October 2016. Read the principles IFTS is based on.

If re-users, current or potential, of LPS information have any points they wish to flag in confidence for the assessment they are encouraged to email the team.

Anonymous feedback will be passed to LPS as part of the verification to help raise standards and improve practice.

A handy guide to copyright for civil servants has been published on the Copyright and Re-use pages of The National Archives website.

Companies House has been re-accredited to the Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS). The report on the verification of Companies House against the IFTS principles has been published and can be found on our IFTS members page.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has been accredited as an online member of the Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS). Most DWI information is made available for re-use under Open Government Licence terms, but DWI has a delegation of authority to allow it to manage the use of its private water supply risk assessment tools by contractors working for local authorities.

Public Health England (PHE) has been accredited as a member of the Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS) following work to implement the recommendations made in last year’s IFTS verification report.

The World Wide Web Foundation has issued the results of the third edition of its Open Data Barometer report. The report surveys open data preparedness across the world. The UK has retained its number 1 ranking.

The Open Data Portal is conducting a European survey on the re-use of open data by businesses of all types and sizes. Any businesses re-using open public sector information can take part and contribute to the findings. The survey can be found on the European Data Portal web pages.

The Chancellor’s budget included provision of funds to develop options for ‘an authoritative address register that is open and freely available’. See the budget report, paragraph 1.251.

The ePSI Platform is to close at the end of February 2016. Activities related to engagement, training, and promotion of Open Data in Europe are to move to the European Data Portal.

The Commons Science and Technology Committee has published its report on The Big Data Dilemma. The report draws conclusions and makes recommendations on matters relating to the balance between privacy, anonymisation, security and public benefit.

The National Museum Directors Council (NMDC) has published a report commissioned from the Collections Trust, entitled ‘Striking the Balance‘.  The report draws on an 18 month study of NMDC members and examines how museums are balancing the twin aims of maximising public access to their digital content and commercial re-use of digital content.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is holding an open ’round table’ meeting to gather stakeholder views on the European Commission (EC) proposals to modernise the framework for the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The meeting is being held in London on 4 February 2016, and further details are available from the IPO.

The UK Government Licensing Framework (UKGLF) has been updated to reflect changes to the licensing framework for the reuse of public sector information in light of the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015. The extended scope of the regulations, information on charging and the new complaints procedure have all been addressed in this update.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) is currently running a consultation exercise on proposed changes to its statistical products. The changes proposed by ONS include stopping some surveys or reducing sample sizes, changing the frequency of some publications, stopping the production of some statistics altogether, and changing how statistics are published. Re-users who wish to comment on the proposals can do so by 8 February 2016 on the ONS consultation web pages.