Data Office Opens Data Request Service

The Data Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network today opened its data request service. The service allows the staff of member organisations, citizens of the Network and members of the public to ask for data held by a department or network service that has not been published in the open data catalogue, including bespoke extracts of published datasets and copies of personal data held about the requester.

Requests are made by writing to the Office at contact@data.gov.vin. Every request is acknowledged within two working days and answered within twenty working days of receipt. Where the data requested can be released, the Office publishes it in the catalogue wherever practicable so that it is available to everyone, and otherwise supplies it to the requester under the appropriate licence or agreement. Where data cannot be released, the Office gives its reasons and explains how the decision may be reviewed.

There is no charge for a request, for the supply of published data or for an extract of a published dataset. A charge may apply to bespoke work exceeding one working day, and is agreed in advance. The request types, steps and timescales are set out on the Requesting Data page of this site.