The Government is releasing public data to help people understand how government works and how policies are made. Some of this data is already available, but data.gov.uk brings it together in one searchable website. Making this data easily available means it will be easier for people to make decisions and suggestions about government policies based on detailed information. Hear more about the Government's Transparency agenda from the Prime Minister.
Datasets are 'published' on data.gov.uk by a range of organisations, mainly from the public sector. On this page you can browse and search for them by name or place in a notional hierarchy.
There are over 9,000 datasets available, from all central government departments and a number of other public sector bodies and local authorities. Is data just public information? Not really. From data.gov.uk, you can access the raw data driving government forward. This can then be used by people to build useful applications that help society, or investigate how effective policy changes have been over time.
