Open call for evidence

Seventh UK National Action Plan for Open Government: call for evidence (HTML)

Published 25 March 2026

Introduction

This call for evidence seeks input to inform the next UK National Action Plan for Open Government, and is coordinated by the Civil Service Strategy Unit within Cabinet Office. Submissions are invited to identify potential areas of focus for this plan.

Background

Open government is the simple idea that governments and institutions work better for citizens when they are transparent, accountable and engage the public.

UK National Action Plans for Open Government (NAPs) provide a focal point for ambitious commitments to significantly move the open government agenda forward, and in doing so will contribute to fulfilling our aspirations under the new Civil Society Covenant.  In addition, open government efforts also happen outside the NAP process, and many past developments are now embedded as routine in government.

Development of action plans

NAPs are developed through a co-creation process between civil society and government.  They set out commitments to improve transparency, accountability, and participation in government.

Government participation is coordinated by the Civil Service Strategy Unit, part of Cabinet Office, whilst civil society participation is coordinated by the UK Open Government Civil Society Network (UK OGN).  They work together to oversee the NAP through the UK Multi-Stakeholder Forum for Open Government (MSF).

The UK OGN is a coalition of civil society organisations and active citizens committed to promoting greater transparency, civic participation and accountability in public policy and service delivery.

Previous action plans and NAP7

The UK co-created and implemented six action plans between 2011 and 2025, with a broad range of commitments in each.  You can view the commitments on the UK National Action Plans for Open Government collection page.

You can find out about the stages involved in developing commitments through the Participation in the Seventh UK National Action Plan for Open Government guidance. 

The first opportunity for co-creation of individual commitments during NAP7 is due from June 2026 onwards, with initial finalised commitments due for publication by the end of 2026.

The first opportunity for co-creation of individual commitments during NAP7 is due from May 2026 onwards, with initial finalised commitments due for publication by the end of 2026.

Open Government Partnership

The UK is a member of the international Open Government Partnership (OGP), members of which all develop their own action plans. You can view the commitments of all member countries on the OGP Data Dashboard, which can be filtered by location, policy areas, and year.

Audience

This is an open call for evidence that anyone is welcome to contribute to. It may be of most interest to individuals and organisations who are committed to ambitious open government reform, and/or those with expertise to help inform this discovery phase.

Your views will be taken forward in two steps:

• Help to identify potential areas of focus
• Help to inform government and civil society discussion at a meeting of the MSF on which areas of focus to take forward

How to submit your evidence 

We invite short submissions on potential areas of focus for NAP7.  You can make multiple submissions on different thematic areas or topics, either by providing multiple ideas per submission, or by making more than one submission, using the GOV.UK Form:

Submissions must be received by 10:00 am on Monday 11th May to be included in the analysis.

Based on feedback from previous UK National Action Plans for Open Government, each idea:

• Should be no more than 250 words in length
• Should focus on a single theme or topic, however broad or narrow
• Could indicate if you, or the community/organisation you are representing, are interested in contributing to the co-creation of a commitment

Please note that making a submission to this call for evidence does not guarantee that a related commitment will be developed as part of NAP7.

Analysis and expected output

Submissions to this call for evidence will be analysed alongside internal government outreach to assess potential for co-creation, and will also be informed by the OGP United Kingdom Co-Creation Brief 2026. The outcome of this analysis will be published on the call for evidence page on GOV.UK.

The potential to develop a commitment for a particular theme will be assessed to see if it:

• Is relevant to advancing one or more open government principles: transparency, accountability, and participation in government;

• Promotes ambitious reforms that stretch the government beyond its current state of practice by strengthening one or more open government principles;

• There is capability and resources in both government and civil society to enable meaningful co-creation to take place.

The analysis will assess ideas against these criteria and will be presented at the next UK Multi-Stakeholder Forum for Open Government for consideration.

Privacy notice

This notice sets out how we will use your personal data, and your rights. It is made under Articles 13 and/or 14 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). 

YOUR DATA 

Purpose

The purposes for which we are processing your personal data are to launch a public call for evidence to invite ideas on areas of potential focus for the Seventh UK National Action Plan for Open Government (NAP7).

National Action Plans for Open Government (NAP) advance the principles of transparency, accountability, and public participation in government. As a member of the international Open Government Partnership (OGP), the UK is committed to co-creating and implementing NAP7 in partnership with civil society.
To achieve this we invite members of the public, civil society organisations, and other bodies to provide ideas on areas of potential focus. As the Ideas that are submitted will be primarily assessed for potential for co-creation rather than developing individual policies, short submissions are encouraged. If an idea for a commitment proceeds to co-creation following the call for evidence, there may be opportunities to provide more detailed input at a later date.
As part of this, personal data will be collected directly from respondents through the digital form (GOV.UK Forms) and will include names, organisations (if applicable), and email addresses.

This data will be processed to inform the “discovery phase” of NAP7. This is necessary to help us understand who has responded and, in some cases, to contact respondents to discuss their ideas. We will only contact or share personal data with those who have given us explicit permission to do so.
We will conduct an analysis of outreach to assess the potential for co-creation and will produce a report on a non-attributable basis (meaning no individuals will be named), which will be published on the GOV.UK call for evidence page.

The data

We will process the following personal data: 

• Name
• Email address
• Opinions
• Other: Name of organisation

Legal basis of processing 

The legal basis for processing your personal data is where it is necessary for a public function.

Recipients

With your permission, your personal data will be shared by us with other HMG Departments, Devolved Governments, Local governments, UK Open Government Civil Society Network (UK OGN), Open Government Partnership (OGP), Google and Gov Forms. 

Retention 

Your personal data will be kept by us for less than 1 year

YOUR RIGHTS 

You have the right to request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data. 

You have the right to request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay. 

You have the right to request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement. 

You have the right to request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed. 

You have the right in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested) to request that the processing of your personal data is restricted. 

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS 

As your personal data is stored on our Corporate IT infrastructure, and shared with our data processors, it may be transferred and stored securely outside the UK. Where that is the case it will be subject to equivalent legal protection through an adequacy decision, reliance on Standard Contractual Clauses, or reliance on a UK International Data Transfer Agreement.

COMPLAINTS 

If you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:  Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, or 0303 123 1113, or icocasework@ico.org.uk.  Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts. 

CONTACT DETAILS 

The data controller for your personal data is the Cabinet Office. The contact details for the data controller are: Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2AS, or 0207 276 1234, or you can use this webform. 

The contact details for the data controller’s Data Protection Officer are: dpo@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. 

The Data Protection Officer provides independent advice and monitoring of Cabinet Office’s use of personal information.