8 If transparency is to better inform choice and accountability, appropriate data must be available in the first place. There is variation in the scope and completeness of information currently available. In some areas this limits the potential benefits.
a With respect to information supporting individual choice, in education the department collects and reports appropriate information to support parents in choosing schools. In social care, by contrast, neither the Department of Health nor its funded bodies collect and publish appropriate information on the comparative costs and performance of providers of community based care services for adults. This data could help to support users in choosing how to spend personalised budgets. While much of the data in this sector is held by private providers, the Government's Open Public Services 2012 White Paper commits to publishing "key data about public services, user satisfaction and the performance of all providers from all sectors".
b With regards to community accountability, the police crime map provides much more detailed recorded crime information than was previously available. However, additional information is still needed, for example on police activity and resourcing locally, for residents to hold neighbourhood police services to account more fully. In local government, the Government has discontinued established performance frameworks. The local government sector is leading a new approach to defining key indicators. It is not currently clear whether this approach will yield sufficient comparable performance information to support meaningful public accountability.