Open data

About Open Data and transparency

The Government has made a commitment to improve transparency across the public sector. Improving transparency helps residents and businesses to see how public money is spent and to establish greater accountability and efficiency.

In October 2011 the Department for Communities and Local Government published The Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on Data Transparency. This Code sets out the principles that should underpin the publication of public data, and also which datasets should be published 'as a minimum', such as senior officers' salaries and our monthly expenditure.

Wandsworth Council is committed to meeting the transparency agenda and being an Open Council. We are working to make a variety of both data and other information we hold available in a more open and transaprent way and in one place.

What we are doing in Wandsworth

Find the information we have made available in an open data format.

The Council already provides a large amount of data and information about the range, type, cost and performance of the services it provides. This is readily accessible through the council's website in formats (for example as interactive maps and pdf files) that meet the needs of the vast majority of users. 

You can also see how we are performing in comparison with other London councils through our new Open Council webpage - How are we doing?

However, publication in this way is only one aspect of transparency. By 'open data' we mean also publishing data and information in specific formats that make it much easier for local community groups, businesses and application developers to re-use it and present it in a variety of new and innovative ways. 

Those authorities, including Wandsworth, that have met certain open data standards are listed on the openlylocal website and on the Communities and Local Government's website.

We are committed to making further datasets and information available in an open data format so please check back regularly.

Making use of our data - licensing

Unless otherwise stated, the data in this section is available for you to use under the Open Government Licence which allows sharing and reuse for commercial purposes, and the Ordnance Survey Open Data Licence (pdf). 

File types

To be considered 'open', data and information should be published in a reusable format, and to make it reusable it needs to be machine-readable. The files provided on this page are in one or more of the following formats:

CSV Files

Comma (or Character) Separated Value files are simple files and are supported by almost all types of spreadsheet and data management software. As such, they are preferable to proprietary file formats such as Microsoft Word or Excel, or Adobe PDF. 

XML and RSS feeds

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) files allow information to be shared between computer systems in a structured way. It is the standard means of providing datasets for re-use by other individuals or organisations. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and are distributed in XML format. We presently publish the following RSS feeds:

• News: www.wandsworth.gov.uk/rss/news
• Events: www.wandsworth.gov.uk/rss/events
• Jobs: https://jobs.wandsworth.gov.uk/Jobs_rss.aspx

KML and GML files

KML (Keyhole Markup Language) and GML (Geographical Markup Language) are both forms of XML which is used to provide geo-spatial mapping data. KML was originally developed and used to display geographic data in browsers such as Google Earth and Google Maps and is complementary to GML.

Other open data websites

There are several other websites that make a large range of public data freely available in a searchable, consistent and reusable way. Key examples include: 

www.data.gov.uk: this is the Government's data portal that hosts a large range of local and national datasets.

data.london.gov.uk: The London Datastore has been created by the Greater London Authority (GLA) to provide easy access to a wide range of London's data. 

Wandsworth maps 

Many of the datasets published in this section are available to view through our Wandsworth maps section. This site allows you to find out more about services and facilities near to where you live by typing in your postciode or browsing a map of your neighbourhood.

Feedback and questions

We welcome any suggestions and feedback on this page and/or the data and information it holds.

Email enquiries@wandsworth.gov.uk using the subject heading "open data" if you have any questions or comments.