The Cabinet Office has unveiled details of a plan to develop a secure digital public record of the Government’s property assets.
It outlines details of the plan for a Digital National Asset Register (DNAR) in its newly published Government Estate Strategy, aimed at pushing forward the One Public Estate programme and making the Government’s use of its buildings and facilities more efficient.
The document – which reiterates the way that digital technology is changing the way departments and agencies work – points to the DNAR as one of the foundations of the future approach.
It says the register will bring together public sector property and land data with socio-economic data and should be in place by the end of the current Parliament. It is expected to take in hundreds of public sector entities and be used to support strategic asset management, collaboration between organisations, and to help them assess their costs, utilisation and environmental performance in managing their estates.
Geospatial potential
The strategy highlights the potential of geospatial analytics and place based decision-making in obtaining the most value from the data, and says this will align with the work of the recently created Geospatial Commission. It is expected to work closely with the Digital Land Unit in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and organisations such as Ordnance Survey and HM Land Registry.
The Cabinet Office says it will lead on setting the data governance, processes and standards to support the work.
In addition, data that could be useful to public and private sectors will be released under the Open Government Licence.
Other prominent elements of the strategy include getting more public sector bodies to share buildings and facilities and increasing capital funding for One Public Estate projects.
Its overall aim is to provide savings of £158 million in running costs, help to deliver £615 million in capital receipts and provide the land for 25,000 homes.
In the strategy’s foreword, Minister for Implementation Oliver Dowden says: “A co-ordinated approach will provide the infrastructure and technologies that we need to promote a more diverse, flexible and secure workforce. In this way we will equip and empower our people, not the office, and ensure our property solutions accord with strategic workforce plans and provide the best recruitment platform for talent and diversity.”
Image by By Eden, Janine and Jim, CC BY 2.0
