Open Meeting presentation
Slides from the PAB Open Meeting that took place on the 17th January 2012 can be viewed in PAB papers
14.12.2011 - PAB Open Meeting Agenda
PAF(11)26
Please refer to paper PAF(11)26 Revised
04.11.2011 - New PAB Members
Deadline 30th November 2011
The PAF Advisory Board is looking to refresh its private sector membership. If you are interested please send your CV to sam.hardy@iamyourva.co.uk or use the Contact page above by 30 November 2011. Membership of the Board is normally at Managing Director level and is unpaid.
02.11.2011 - Public Data Corporation Consultation
Response to the Public Data Corporation Consultation
Please refer to PAF(24) - Public Data Corporation Consultation in the papers section of the PAB Website
02.11.2011 - Open Data Consultation
PAB response to the Open Data Consulation
Please refer to PAF(25) - Open Data Consultation in the papers section of the PAB Website
11.10.2011 - PAB Open Meeting
17th January 2012
The PAF Advisory Board will be holding an Open Meeting on the 17th January 2012 from 10:00 to 13:00 at:-
Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA
An email invite will follow shortly
20.06.2011 - PAF(11)14
The PAF Advisory Board responds to the Postcomm report
The PAF Advisory Board responds to the Postcomm report on representations on behalf of the PAF market – paper PAF(11)14 +FINAL (available under the PAF papers tag) contains the full Advisory Board response and planned actions.
20.06.2011 - BFPO postcodes
BFPO postcodes UPDATE
BFPO postcodes – Royal Mail has told the Advisory Board that it will shortly release a data set with BFPO delivery addresses as a free supplement to the monthly PAF file
20.06.2011 - WEB BASED ENQUIRY CENTRE
Royal Mail plan to launch a web based enquiry centre
Licence conditions – During July Royal Mail plans to launch a web based enquiry centre which will allow end-users and solutions providers to follow a D-I-Y compliance check on PAF use under the generic 2010 licence. Access will be through the Address Management Unit web site.
31.03.2011 - EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST INVITED
The Advisory Board is proposing to let a small contract
The Advisory Board is proposing to let a small contract for research to estimate the value of the PAF file to the UK economy at current take up levels and an estimate of the extent of potential further use.
The Advisory Board expects that the contract will be let in May 2011 and the work concluded with a written report and a presentation to the Advisory Board on 14July 2011.
Those interested in conducting the research are invited to submit a brief expression of interest containing an outline of how the research would be carried out, the likely duration in man days and previous relevant experience. Work to estimate the current value and the potential value should be separately identified.
Expressions of interest should be sent by e-mail using the pafboard.org.uk contact form or by post to:
PAF Advisory Board, PO Box 57983, LONDON,W4 9AW
to arrive by 21 April 2011.
23.03.2011 - LATEST ON A PUBLIC SECTOR LICENCE
PUBLIC SECTOR LICENCE
The Advisory Board understands that negotiations continue between the
Address Management Unit and the Department for Communities and Local
Government over the promised public sector PAF licence. It is unclear when
any new arrangements might become operational. Until there is an
announcement from the AMU that agreement has been reached on a new regime
for public sector PAF use and any transition arrangements finalised the
Advisory Board further understands that all requirements for licence fees
will remain unchanged. Further information will be posted on this web-site
when it becomes available.
Many thanks
Ian
16.02.2011 - THE CHAIRMANS BLOG - FEBRUARY 2011
February 2011
GOING DUTCH?
Last month Dutch newspapers reported a dispute between the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and TNT Post over the sale of zip code data. The Government wants to end TNT Post’s monopoly and sell the zip codes itself at cost price. TNT has rejected the proposed compensation offered by the Government. According to a spokesperson for the Dutch Government TNT asked: ‘an unfounded and unreasonably high price’. The Dutch Government argues that it is entitled to end the TNT monopoly since it does not plan to exploit the sale of zip codes commercially. Meanwhile, the newspapers reported, TNT Post is considering taking the matter to court or to the European Commission.
At about the same time the UK Government announced its intention to create a public data corporation.1 The Corporation will, says the UK Government: ‘…for the first time bring together Government bodies and data into one organisation and provide an unprecedented level of easily accessible public information which will open up opportunities for innovative developers, businesses and members of the public to generate social and economic growth through the use of data.’
Now I wonder, does the UK Government have ambitions to buy out the postcode and include it in the public data corporation? And on what basis if Royal Mail is sold: PAF owned by the public data corporation but maintained by Royal Mail? PAF owned by Government and maintained by a third party? Or will PAF be sold as part of Royal Mail?
All this matters because data are only as good as their relevance and I am left wondering what will happen to postal data quality if the management of the Dutch zip codes is separated from their postal use.
So, do great political minds think alike (after all both governments are coalitions)? Or is the British Government so hard up it is thinking of going Dutch?
Ian Beesley
Chairman
February 2011
1 http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/public-data-corporation-free-public-data-and-drive-innovation
14.02.2011 - PAF - Statistics
PAF(11)06
Each month the AMU provides statistics showing the changes made top PAF analysed into various categories. The Advisory Board will make these available in the 'papers' section of the web site and in the form in which we receive them.
04.01.2011 - THE CHAIRMANS BLOG - JANUARY 2011
JANUARY 2011
ADVISORY BOARD OPEN MEETING
Just under 50 people braved the weather on 8 December 2010 to attend the third annual open meeting of the PAF Advisory Board. They heard the Chairman, Ian Beesley, give the Board’s assessment of the pluses (more flexible usage) and minuses (complicated licencing terms) of the 2010 revision to the PAF licence. Paul Tatman-Madsen and Scott Childes of the Address Management Unit outlined the current state of knowledge about which sectors of the economy and which types of business have accounted for recent growth in PAF usage and announced a web-based initiative to help PAF end-users and value added re-sellers navigate the licensing conditions, thereby contributing to consistency in licence interpretation. Peter Allies reported on a survey of end-users to gauge priorities for improving the quality of PAF. Richard Mason of the Ordnance Survey put flesh on the bones of the announcement by the Communities and Local Government Secretary that a joint-venture between Ordnance Survey and the collective local authorities of England and Wales would release a National Address Gazetteer early in 2011/2012. The Gazetteer will include addresses that are not mail delivery points and will be updated partly directly by local authorities and partly using PAF data. The Advisory Board understands that the terms on which the Gazetteer will be available are under discussion and that the Gazetteer will be available for commercial use, but is likely to be more expensive for small users than the PAF file. The Advisory Board has submitted a list of key requirements for any public sector PAF licence to ensure fairness of treatment for the private sector. (The text is available as PAF(10)23).
The presentations from the open meeting are available on this PAF Board web-site.
Wishing all those interested in PAF a Happy and prosperous 2011.
Ian Beesley
Chairman
January 2011
15.03.2010 - PAF BOARD COMMENTS ON ORDNANCE SURVEY CONSULTATION
The PAF Board has submitted comments under the Government Consultation
The Advisory Board welcomes moves to make postcode data widely available provided that the maintenance of data quality is properly ensured.
27.01.2010 - QUALITY WORKING GROUP
The first meeting took place on 27 January 2010
The first meeting of the Quality Working Group took place on 27 January 2010. Members are: Peter Allies, Allies Computing (Chairman); Mark Chipperfield, BBC Televison Licensing; Andrew Jones, Ordnance Survey; Ben Smith, Tesco.
Questions and issues can be raised with the Working Group via the contact link on this web site.
06.01.2009 - PAF Advisory Board Postal Address
Please feel free to send any correspondence to the address below:
PAF Advisory Board
PO Box 57983
LONDON
W4 9AW