Over half of councils do not make data publicly available and Scotland is “lagging behind other countries” such as Finland and France in facilitating an “open data culture”, says a new report.

A study by the David Hume Institute (DHI) says that 18 out of 32 local authorities do not publish data.

The think tank estimates that slow progress by Scotland on making data freely available could cost the Scottish economy around £2bn.

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Open data – considered a key factor in the improvement of public services – is data that can be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone, subject only to the requirement to attribute and share alike.

In 2015, the Scottish Government launched its open data strategy, with the aim that by 2020 Scotland could use data better to improve public services.

But DHI says progress has been slow. Its report points out that other European nations publish extensive datasets on areas such as public transport, social policy, public decision-making, and education.

Open data – considered a key factor in the improvement of public services – is data that can be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone. Image by Chombosan.