United Kingdom Mid-Term Report 2016-2018

Commitments in the United Kingdom’s third action plan have lowered ambition in relation to previous action plans. Institutional and political changes in the country have impacted its level of completion.

Highlights

* Commitment is evaluated by the IRM as specific, relevant, and has a transformative potential impact
✪ Commitment is evaluated by the IRM as being specific, relevant, potentially transformative, and substantially or fully implemented

Process

The third action plan was implemented amid considerable upheaval in British politics following the UK’s referendum to leave the European Union in June 2016. The UK government and devolved governments continued their relatively successful process of consultation with regular and detailed meetings and publications, and frequent updates.

Performance

The UK received two starred commitments (commitments 8 and 9 from Wales). While Wales’ commitments are (bar one) substantially complete or fully complete, the other commitments still require significant effort.

IRM Recommendations

1. A Parliamentary committee (and respective other devolved equivalents) to oversee transparency policies.
2. High Profile Intervention or an event in support of the OGP process.
3. A focus on more information and data on the impact of Brexit on everyday life.
4. Continue to experiment with new ways of engaging CSOs.
5. High profile cross-cutting ‘signature’ reforms that are cross-cutting and high-profile (of a kind seen in the third action plan such as Beneficial ownership).