A Page on the Web, published in the Solicitors Journal, April 1999.

The Government last month published two documents of great import to you, web user, lawyer, businessman and citizen:

• The White Paper, The Future Management of Crown Copyright, lays the foundations for a flexible and responsive management system, and establishes the Government Information Asset Register.
• Modernising Government sets out the Government’s aims in delivering direct government to businesses and citizens in the information age.

Crown copyright

‘Many respondents [to the Green Paper, Crown Copyright in the Information Age] recognised the need to preserve the integrity and official status of government material. It was generally perceived that Crown copyright operates as a brand or kitemark of quality indicating the status and authority of much of the material produced by Government. However, Crown copyright can be asserted and then waived to ensure light touch management, particularly for material of a legislative or consultative nature, where it is in Government’s interests to encourage unrestricted use.’

Consequently, formal and specific licensing will not be necessary for the following categories of material (inter alia):

• Primary and secondary legislation
• Explanatory notes to legislation
• Government press notices
• Government forms
• Government consultative documents
• Government documents featured on official departmental Web sites

This permission extends the former concession made by HMSO under which publishers were permitted to reproduce the above categories of information only in a ‘value-added context’.

A distinction is drawn between Crown copyright materials produced to meet core obligations or statutory duties, which are freely copiable, and services where value has been added by Government, when such information is potentially tradable and copying is not permitted. For example, the putative Statute Law Database is a value-added service which will not be copiable, though the statutory texts themselves will be.

The Government recognises that is in its interest to make forms, both statutory and non-statutory, available as widely as possible and states that ‘It is therefore our intention to feature an increasing range of government forms on departmental Web sites in many cases enabling users to complete forms on screen.’ The first example of a substantial set of law forms available inthis way is the new civil procedure forms on the Court Service site. This and other official forms websites were covered in last month’s Page on the Web.

The new regime will ensure a much wider and more rapid distribution of statutory and related texts than hitherto, encouraging smaller publishers (and on the web, we are all publishers) to adapt these materials to their own use.

The Information Asset Register

‘The Government accepts the principle that departments should produce regularly updated listings of material which they hold. … Our aim is to provide a gateway and central information point to guide and direct a route through the maze of official government information and materials … which we call the Government Information Asset Register (IAR).’

The IAR will provide an effective retrieval tool to complement the existing routes via departmental and other cross-government web sites providing broad categories of information with links through to these other sites.The Information Asset Register’s records will include the following information: Title, Identifier/Database Acronym, Description, Source Language, Creator, Format(s), Date made available, Updating frequency, Subject keywords, Geographic coverage, Contact/Distributor and Rights.Work on development of the IAR started at the end of 1998. It currently contains some sample entries and links to the existing bibliographic databases. Information Asset Registers will be added as these come on stream with the aim that most departmental entries will complete during 2000.

Information age government

‘We will use new technology to meet the needs of citizens and business, and not trail behind technological developments’

The Government is taking specific actions to develop information age government through IT in a number of areas. In many cases this is allowing public services to be delivered 24 hours a day, seven days a week and the Government promises to continue to promote initiatives to modernise services in accordance with the needs of citizens and businesses.For example, from 2000, individual taxpayers and businesses will be able to make income tax returns to the Inland Revenue and register for VAT with Customs & Excise over the Internet. In the Budget, the Government announced that there would be a discount for small businesses which make their tax returns electronically.By 2002, the Government intends, as a minimum, that business will be able electronically to:

• complete VAT registration and make VAT returns.
• file returns at Companies House.
• apply for regional support grants.
• receive payments from government for the supply of goods and services.

To bring about a more coherent approach to the use of web sites for giving information and eventually delivering services, it will publish guidelines for government websites by November 1999 and relaunch the site www.open.gov.uk. so that it provides easier access to information and an updated search facility.

In the longer term, the Government aims to link the widest possible range of government services and information through electronic government gateways (or portals).

The Prime Minister announced in 1997 that, by 2002, 25% of dealings with Government should be capable of being done by the public electronically. Progress towards this target will be published on a six-monthly basis from May 1999 on www.citu.gov.uk and the Government proposes that 50% of dealings should be capable of electronic delivery by 2005 and 100% by 2008.

PS. In the spirit of the new Crown copyright regime, few words in this article are my own.

Featured links

HMSO is at www.hmso.gov.uk
The IAR will be at www.inforoute.hmso.gov.uk but for now is at www.hmso.gov.uk/inforoute/
The Stationery Office publishes Official Documents at www.official-documents.co.uk
Modernising Government is at www.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm43/4310/4310.htm