The modern world generates a staggering quantity of data – big data – and the business of government is no exception. Across the public sector, extraordinary quantities of data are amassed in the course of running public services – from managing welfare payments and the National Health Service, through to issuing passports and driving licences. In the arena of tax alone, HM Revenue & Customs reportedly holds over 80 times more data than the British Library.
The term big data has come to refer to these very large datasets, and big data analytics to refer to the process of seeking insights by combining and examining them. Regardless of the stance a government chooses on openness – i.e. decisions on making public data free to use, reuse and redistribute – an abundance of data and computing power gives the public sector new ways to organise, learn and innovate.