Delivering open data

The privatisation of the Royal Mail is progressing steadily. In 2011, the Postal Services Act paved the way for the spin-out. In spring 2012, government took on the Royal Mail’s pension assets and liabilities – previously seen as an obstacle to a commercial sale. And in December, it was suggested that employees might own 10% of the new enterprise. While the past months have seen relatively few negative headlines (and reasonably little industrial action), there is clearly significant concern about whether government can manage the biggest privatisation since the railways in a way that protects value for money for taxpayers. So far, the focus has been on two questions. First, whether government was right to take on the pensions liabilities that significantly outstrip the likely proceeds of the sale. And, second, whether the sale will mean an end to postal services as we know them. Will, for example, the new entity be able to vary prices for delivery to different parts of the country, and – as in other countries – move away from daily delivery? But there is another somewhat technical question that is beginning to surface and arguably deserves greater attention. What is going to happen with all the data that the Royal Mail currently owns – and particularly the UK Postcode Address File (PAF), which is “the only complete source of all known UK postcodes”? Even under public ownership, there have been complaints about the fact that the Post Office is profiting from its ownership of this data, which it currently sells on license to a wide range of organisations. Heather Savory of the Open Data User Group (ODUG), for example, argues that the Royal Mail licensing regime prevents small technology companies from exploiting the data in innovative software solutions and stops small businesses from benefiting from more accurate data on customer addresses. Savory, who wants the data to be freely available to all, sees the current licensing system as creating barriers to productivity that cost the economy as a whole hundreds of millions of pounds – far more than the estimated £24.5 million cost of providing the service. These problems would likely be exacerbated if data ownership stays with the Royal Mail once it goes private. Outsourcing and privatisation only work where there is a competitive market and consumers can take their business elsewhere if they don’t like the service or the price. If Royal Mail really is to be privatised, it is clear that alternative arrangements will need to be made for the job of updating and either selling or giving away postcode data. There are lots of options for doing this – but it’s critical that this issue is not forgotten simply because there is political pressure to push through a sale and secure a better price. As the Institute has recently argued some services have properties that are inherently public and shouldn’t simply be left to private markets.