Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the potential economic value of the UK having an address file that was published as open data.

Following a request from the Open Data User Group (ODUG) to the Data Strategy Board in 2013, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills funded an independent advisory report into the feasibility and options for the creation of an open address data set. The report was published in February 2014 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/274979/bis-14-513-open-national-address-gazetteer.pdf

The estimated cost of an open data product – £40m per annum to Government – was considered unaffordable by the Public Sector Transparency Board (which subsumed the DSB).

However following extensive consultation and engagement with the market since the commissioning of the report in 2013 Royal Mail has simplified it’s Postcode Address File (PAF) licence. They have also introduced new measures to provide free access to PAF for micro businesses and small independent charities.

In addition, from 1 April 2014, eligible public sector organisations in England and Wales, and Scotland, have been able to take advantage of the new Public Sector Licence, which reduces the overall cost for those organisations and simplifies access to address data.