DWP wins award for better data
The Department for Work and Pensions has won this year’s “Better Information from Government” award from the Demographics User Group (DUG).
The Department for Work and Pensions has won this year’s “Better Information from Government” award from the Demographics User Group (DUG).
The award recognises the work by the Department for making data more open and easier to access.
The DUG, which represents major companies including Barclays, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s, highlighted how Government data is important to companies in their decision-making and commended the DWP’s neighbourhood-level statistics and future plans.
Minister for Welfare Reform Lord Freud said:
The Government has a responsibility to be open with data, so we can be more accountable to the public as well as provide the public and private sectors with the tools to plan and improve services.
Better data also gives companies the information they need to find opportunities for growth, which benefits us all.
I want to thank the DWP teams working to improve our data and for allowing greater public access of our information resources and to congratulate them on winning this award.
Keith Dugmore, Director of DUG, said:
Commercial companies, when making decisions about targeting investment towards particular types of customers and local markets, welcome the availability of Government statistics across the United Kingdom.
The DWP has led the way, using the information that it collects to create profiles of various populations for very small areas, and making these easily accessible.
Members of the Demographics User Group strongly welcome these developments, and the future plans outlined in the DWP Open Data Strategy, which will enable better understanding of customers and increase the efficiency and growth of businesses
The DWP will soon be launching Stat-Xplore, a beta-version of a new statistics exploration and visualisation site, which will allow much greater access to the department’s data.
This first phase release of Stat-Xplore, relating to data on Housing Benefit claimants, will allow members of the public to access more data, more quickly and easily.
The DUG “Better Information from Government” award was presented to David Frazer, DWP Director of Information, on behalf of DWP at their annual conference at the Royal Society on Wednesday 10th October.
Notes to Editors
DUG’s 15 member companies are: Barclays, Boots, Camelot, Centrica, Co-operative Group, E.ON, Everything Everywhere, GlaxoSmithKline, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Nationwide, Sainsbury’s, Serco, Tesco, and Whitbread.
Website: http://www.demographicsusergroup.co.uk/
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