UK Risks Its Place On Anti-Corruption Body

Government, Open data / By /

UK Risks Its Place On Anti-Corruption Body

September 8, 2022
Government, Open data

The UK has been placed ‘under review’ by the 77-country-strong Open Government Partnership (OGP) due to its failure to meet mandatory criteria for the two previous National Action Plans. These plans set out how the government will progress transparency and accountability initiatives.

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) includes 77 countries and 106 local governments – representing more than two billion people and thousands of civil society organisations. It is a partnership that promotes transparent, participatory, inclusive and accountable governance.

Open contracting and transparency in public procurement have proven to save money and broaden competition. It is becoming a global norm in OGP, with over 70 members committing to reforms on the issue.

As a co-founder of OGP, the United Kingdom has been a global leader on open government and anti-corruption efforts, implementing four open government action plans. However, despite progress on procurement, the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) has completed its review of the UK’s most recent action plan 2021-2023  found in August that the report failed to meet minimum standards that are required when developing an OGP action plan.

This week, Kevin Keith, Chair of UK Open Government Network (UK OGN) outlined the the risks in article in politics.co.uk “In 2011 the UK government was a founding member of the Open Government Partnership. It provided global leadership on how and why governments should be transparent, held to account, and involve the public in decision-making. Now, that very same Partnership may declare the UK government ‘inactive.’ ”

This is the third consecutive action plan cycle in which the UK failed to meet the minimum requirements. The UK was placed under Procedural Review in February 2021, due to acting contrary to process for two consecutive action plan cycles (late delivery of its 2018-2020 action plan, and not meeting the minimum standards during co-creation of its 2019-21 action plan).

The IRM review found that the government did not provide its reasoning behind why certain priorities, ideas or activities proposed by non-government stakeholders were or were not included in the UK’s 2021-23 OGP Action Plan, or how the public’s feedback was used to shape the plan before it was finalised in late 2021.

The next meeting of the OGP is in October in Rome.The Criteria & Standards (C&S) Subcommittee will discuss the findings of this report and review the UK’s participation status in OGP and If in this meeting the UK is declared ‘inactive in the OGP, it will join only El Salvador, Malta and Malawi.

In the last few week, three commitments have been added to the original– UK National Action Plan: Diversity and Inclusion, Aid Transparency, and Freedom of Information. Hopefully this will see some strengthening of accountability relating to Official Development Assistance.

We welcome you to get in touch, to discuss your government procurement data needs, our our API.

Because you read this article, you may also be interested in More Governments Improve Transparency.

May 30, 2023

Space To Innovate- New UK Gov Opportunity

The UK Government's, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Space Systems Programme has announced it is seeking proposals to aid UK Defence...
Read more...
May 25, 2023

EU Commission Move To Electronic Procurement

The European Commissions Directorate Generate for Informatics (DIGIT), has launched a new dynamic purchasing system for software licences and associated services (SIDE...
Read more...
May 22, 2023

Biosecure Procurement Trial

The UK Government yesterday announced new measures for domestic tree seed production and biosecurity procurement requirements. The next round of the Domestic...
Read more...
May 18, 2023

New Industry Body White Paper Review of Covid Procurement

Since early on in the pandemic, there has been significant focus on the procurement of Covid related PPE, due to unprecedented nature...
Read more...
May 11, 2023

EU Council Joint Procurement Under European Peace Facility

The European Union Council has adopted an assistance measure worth €1 billion under the European Peace Facility (EPF) that will further contribute...
Read more...
May 10, 2023

Measuring Sustainable Public Procurement

One of the projects we are most proud of is working with The Open Contracting Partnership to create a Sustainable Public Procurement...
Read more...
May 3, 2023

From Hero to Zero – UK Digital Marketplace Shuttered

Within living memory, the UK’s Crown Commercial Service (CCS) had planned to reshape a large swathe of public procurement in the image...
Read more...
May 2, 2023

We Sell Data, Not Seats.

Why we sell data not seats? We're data analysts. We really understand the data we gather. We've been doing it for 15...
Read more...
May 2, 2023

New Tech Disrupts Traditional Government Procurement

A Silicon Valley startup, GLASS, has created a revolutionary new tech, Glass Commerce, an e-commerce marketplace enabling compliant transactions between government buyers...
Read more...
April 25, 2023

Green Public Procurement: New Report

At Spend Network, we are always on the look out for governments, think tanks, research bodies, and other organisations who are working...
Read more...
April 25, 2023

EU Agrees on Anti-Coercion Instrument

The European Commission and European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade have agreed on an anti-coercion instrument (ACI) which will enable public procurement...
Read more...
April 13, 2023

£256 Million Contract for Cyprus Awarded by UK Government

The UK Ministry of Defence  has awarded a £256 million contract, for work, repairs, servicing, and facilities management for the UK defence...
Read more...
April 5, 2023

Endorsements For Export Agencies

Endorsements are a win-win for export agencies. Exporters face new challenges, both in terms of increased barriers to trade following the pandemic,...
Read more...
April 4, 2023

Looking For Reasons To Export to Government?

If you are looking to grow exports, you should start with the largest and most transparent industry in the world, and here...
Read more...
April 5, 2023

Lockheed Martin Selected As Preferred Bidder.

US defence giant Lockheed Martin has won a contract to deliver Australia’s first sovereign-controlled military satellite communication constellation. Lockheed Martin was recently announced...
Read more...

Newsletter

Compelling research, insights and data directly into your inbox.

Recent media stories

Search

Recent articles