We will monitor adoption of the recommended transparency provisions and take actions to help promote uptake.
The Crown Commercial Service and the Cabinet Office have indicated an intention to adopt a version of these transparency provisions set out in this document, once they have been more widely consulted on across Whitehall departments. To assist adoption and uptake, the Institute for Government, together with relevant partners from government, business, voluntary sector and civil society, will:
• Track adoption of the transparency provisions in new contracts awarded by government departments after the 2015 election. We will check uptake across a selection of new Whitehall contracts for public service provision six months after the 2015 election.
• As part of encouraging uptake, we will work with the Crown Commercial Service, and willing Whitehall departments and service providers to test the provisions as a demonstration project. This will provide an opportunity to incorporate early feedback as well as demonstrate how publication of transparency information can work in practice.
• The transparency provisions commit contracting authorities and suppliers to agree what information to publish upfront. We will work with those departments and suppliers willing to champion the provisions to identify a default set of transparency information that might be published in contracts.
• Provide advice on how best transparency information can be presented to the public. Once adopted, the transparency provisions will oblige contracting authorities to publish the transparency information for the general public. The usefulness of this data will hinge on how it is presented and on whether it can be reused under an open data licence.
• Continue to support simultaneous work on the Freedom of Information Act, including recent work done by the Information Commissioner's Office. The transparency provisions are complementary to FOI obligations.
• Support work to examine how and where transparency provisions should apply to subcontractors. The focus of this work has been on using the contractual arrangements between prime contractors and contracting authorities. At a lower level, a number of sub-contractors are often integral to service delivery and there are important questions around what level of scrutiny they require.
The Institute for Government is here to act as a catalyst for better government.
The Institute for Government is an independent charity founded in 2008 to help make government more effective.
■ We carry out research, look into the big governance challenges of the day and find ways to help government improve, rethink and sometimes see things differently.
■ We offer unique insights and advice from experienced people who know what it's like to be inside government both in the UK and overseas.
■ We provide inspirational learning and development for very senior policy makers.
We do this through seminars workshops, talks or interesting connections that invigorate and provide fresh ideas.
We are placed where senior members of all parties and the Civil Service can discuss the challenges of making government work, and where they can seek and exchange practical insights from the leading thinker practitioners, public servants, academics and opinion formers.
Copies of this report are available alongside other research work at:
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
March 2015
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