2.21 Although the Government has wide-ranging objectives for transparency, few attempts have yet been made to monitor emerging benefits. In its Making Open Data Real consultation, the Cabinet Office identified six categories of potential benefits from transparency,8 and its Open for Business website provides some examples of businesses benefiting from open data.9 However, it is not yet using the six categories to set out what would constitute success, to systematically track benefits, or to promote rigorous measurement, including identifying unintended consequences.
2.22 We asked all departments whether they had identified emerging benefits from the transparency agenda. Seven departments told us that benefits had materialised, although they could not quantify them. Examples include cost reductions in travel and subsistence spending and identifying and resolving data quality problems.