Summary
The RSS fully supports the principle of open data and agrees that it can help deliver the benefits set out in the consultation document. However a number of key conditions are necessary for these benefits to be realised:

• Data must be accompanied by clear and succinct information about its provenance, context, purpose and reliability (metadata). Without this users will not be able to use the data effectively and are liable to misinterpret or over-interpret. Data must also be provided in a form that is clear and easy to understand and easy to re-use; this applies whether it is in an Excel or csv spreadsheet or in some more sophisticated format. Technical sophistication must not be bought at the price of clarity. It must be explicitly recognised that providing good metadata and supplying clear presentation require time and effort;
• All basic and administrative datasets should be provided free to users. The aim should also be to include, within a few years, basic administrative data currently charged for;
• Statistical datasets should explicitly include survey data from both business and households;
• Data must be properly accessible – presently users report that it can be very difficult to locate data in which they are interested. Significant efforts will need to be put into collating and curating data sets;
• Statistical confidentiality must be maintained in all data releases derived from statistical survey