Publish your data on data.gov.uk - A Simple How-To-Guide

A key part of Government's Transparency agenda is the opening up of data held by Government bodies – ministerial departments, agencies, NHS and arms-length bodies, and more. To enable people to find and re-use this data in innovative ways, it must be included on data.gov.uk, which acts as a registry holding details of online public data.

This is a guide for those working to publish their organisation's data on how it can be included on data.gov.uk. The guide assumes that you already have the data ready to publish (in an open format, with any necessary clearances and redactions made) and are able to put it onto your corporate website or another similar site which allows members of the public to access content. Other guidance is also available on how to prepare data for publication, and specific instructions for centrally-coordinated datasets.

Each departmental family has a nominated transparency lead practitioner, generally in the ministerial lead department. They can advise you on how to put these instructions into practice, including hosting if you cannot find a website on which to place the data, and allow you to test the method before publication. They cover both their ministerial department and also those in any non-ministerial departments, agencies, NDPBs etc. which report to Parliament through that minister.

If you are in the NHS, you should work through your organisation's contact in the NHS Information Centre who lead on the Transparency agenda for the Department of Health and associated bodies.

If you are in local government, the Department for Communities and Local Government has a central team available at lpdu@communities.gsi.gov.uk.

If you have already published datasets to the site but do not have access to edit them please contact the Cabinet Office PublicData@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk with the dataset in question, your user account name and the organisation you have published on behalf of.

Register as a Publisher User

1. Visit data.gov.uk.
2. Select the link to create an account.
3. Complete the form and select whether you are a data publisher or not (tick box) - please remember to check this box if you wish to publish data. N.B. - if you already have an account, you can check this box on the "Edit" tab of your account.

4. You will receive confirmation of account approval via e-mail, your account has been successfully created. E-mail approval should be on the same day.
5. Log in to data.gov.uk; the first page you see is the ‘your account’ page. N.B.On first log in, users will need to create a password. Passwords will need to be at least 8 characters, including upper and lower case letters and a number.

6. Within the account settings pages, a 'publishers’ tab will be visible which lists all publishers for which you have access rights. At this stage you will not be associated to a publisher

7. From the 'Publishers' tab select apply for access link – this leads to the create publisher access application process.

Create Publisher Access Application

1. Complete this form for either:
   • Existing Publisher (start to type in the publisher name in the ‘Publisher’ field and if it appears the publisher has already been created), or
   • for a new publisher. If you are creating a publisher on behalf of a local authority, please select ‘Local Authorities’ as the publisher parent.

2. Select what type of access is required - this is either editor access (which lets you add and edit data) or admin access which, gives you the same powers as editor access but also lets you edit publisher details, publisher contact information, logo and so on.
3. Add your request details stating why you need access (who you are, etc.).
4. Submit request. Your account details will now list the pending application.


This then triggers an approval process where:

5. The Public Data and Transparency Team are alerted to the publisher request - they then either approve or reject based on the details given.
6. You will receive an e-mail stating whether your publisher request has been approved or declined.  Responses on publisher applications aim to be within one working day.
7. If approved, when you next log in you will have the ability to register datasets for the publisher(s) you are approved against.

Include Datasets

1. Once logged in you will see the create metadata link just below the site navigation near the top of the screen.

2. Complete the create metadata form with details of the dataset you are adding. Guidance on completing the form is embedded within the proforma

3. Click "Submit" to add your dataset. N.B. Please be careful with the system – you will be editing a live, public-facing government website.

Editing / Updating Datasets once live

If you need to edit or update a dataset once it is live just log into the site as normal, find your dataset, then click on the Edit on CKAN link. You will be able to edit the original fields as required and then re-submit.

Removing a Dataset

If, in exception cases, you need to remove a dataset please e-mail PublicData@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk or telephone: 020 8392 5330 ext. 2493 with a link to the dataset you need removed from the system and a note as to why.

By Data.gov.uk Team