WIREDGOV

The Government is publishing the most comprehensive organisation charts of the UK Civil Service ever released online, taking another step towards its goal of being the most transparent government in the world and opening up the structure of the Civil Service to public scrutiny.

Minster for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, said: 

The new charts will make it easier for the public to view and compare the structure of government bodies because, for the first time, all central government departments and their agencies will present their charts together in the same format.

First published in October, Civil Service charts known as ‘organograms’ include the names, job titles and salaries of all civil service directors and more senior civil servants. The new charts published today also include details of the numbers, grades, pay ranges and professions of staff within each team. For the first time, all departmental and agency charts are available in the same, user-friendly style, enabling users to see the whole of central government in one place. 

The charts are available on the Government’s new-look data.gov.uk website. They form part of a series of improvements aimed at increasing the usability of public data published on data.gov.uk. The site now features a postcode search for the most important data on crime, health and other public services so people can see the data about their local area. There are also clear tools to explore cross-government data on spending, contracts, ministerial meetings and more. 

The new organograms and revised data.gov.uk come a year after the Prime Minister committed to regularly publishing Government-held data, including organograms published by individual departments and agencies, central government spending over £25,000, government contracts and tenders worth over £10,000 and crime maps showing street-level crime. 

Minister for Cabinet Office Francis Maude said:

Today is about making sure that the workings of the Civil Service continue to be opened up and made as transparent as possible. We want everyone to be able to look at the information, make easy comparisons across government and see where things could be smarter and more efficient.

“But this latest publication is just one small part of what we are doing to drive forward transparency in government. In just a year, there has been a quantum leap in the kind of data this government is releasing. We will be setting out plans shortly to publish more data which will increasingly help inform people about the public services they use every day, helping them to make more informed choices and drive better services.

“This degree of transparency will also drive economic and social growth by enabling enterprise and the Big Society to develop innovative new products. But transparency must start at home – right here in Whitehall. 

Notes to editors 

1. The new organogams are available at www.data.gov.uk and www.number10.gov.uk. Departmental and agency data is also available on respective departmental or agency websites.
2. Organograms were first published by individual government departments and agencies in October 2010.
3. The organograms published today represent government departments as at 31 March 2011. They will be updated every 6 months.
4. data.gov.uk now contains over 6,000 datasets.
5. The Prime Minister wrote an open letter to Cabinet on 31 May 2010, setting out the Coalition Government’s initial commitments and priorities for opening up data.
6. Since June 2010, the Government has also published for the first time:
   • details of the pay rates for 172 of the highest-paid civil servants in June 2010 - this was extended to all Directors-General and Directors in all departments in October 2010
   • all central government spending over £25,000 from November 2010
   • all government tenders worth over £10,000 from September 2010 and contracts worth over £10,000 from February 2011 - Contracts Finder
   • street-level crime data and crime maps from January 2011 - www.police.uk
7. By opening up government data, the Coalition aims to:
   • make Government more accountable: exposing government spending and structures – enabling the public to hold government to account for its performance
   • stimulate economic growth: enabling enterprise to develop innovative new products, especially in the research, media and technology sectors, opening up new information marketplaces
   • enable comparisons and choice in the services that people use every day: encouraging service providers to improve productivity and quality in outcomes
   • support the Big Society: giving citizens the information they need to make informed decisions about public service priorities locally.