Free Companies House data to boost UK economy
From the post:
Companies House is to make all of its digital data available free of charge. This will make the UK the first country to establish a truly open register of business information.
As a result, it will be easier for businesses and members of the public to research and scrutinise the activities and ownership of companies and connected individuals. Last year (2013/14), customers searching the Companies House website spent £8.7 million accessing company information on the register.
This is a considerable step forward in improving corporate transparency; a key strand of the G8 declaration at the Lough Erne summit in 2013.
It will also open up opportunities for entrepreneurs to come up with innovative ways of using the information.
This change will come into effect from the second quarter of 2015 (April – June).
…
In a side bar, Business Secretary Vince Cable said in part:
Companies House is making the UK a more transparent, efficient and effective place to do business.
I’m not sure about “efficient,” but providing incentives for lawyers and others to track down insider trading and other business as usual practices and arming them with open data would be a start in the right direction.
I first saw this in a tweet by Hadley Beeman.