Post: 6 October 2016
Household projections modelling datasets, published by DCLG for local authority areas in England, are now open data. This means the projections can be used for commercial purposes as well as by councils.
Regular readers may recall that when the 2012-based projections were updated in December I queried why this useful public data hadn’t been released under the Open Government Licence. The underlying population estimates from ONS are already open, but DCLG had placed a prohibition on commercial use of their projections.
Followed a Freedom of Information request, DCLG said they had no record of why re-use had been restricted. However they said they would “consider whether OGL is appropriate for the next release of Household Projections expected later this year”.
When the 2014-based projections were released in July the same restrictions applied. I submitted a new FOI request along with a re-use request under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015.
DCLG’s response confirms they did not review the licensing status of the household projections data prior to the latest release. However they have now agreed that both the 2014-based and 2012-based projections datasets may be re-used as open data under the terms of the Open Government Licence.
Image credit: unlock by Thomas Ulrich (CC BY-SA 2.0)