The government is considering the creation of a new facility to make best use of new data-management techniques, according to the minister for transformational government.

Tom Watson was speaking at a Whitehall & Westminster World conference on public sector information, organised in association with the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI).

Watson said that techniques such as ‘mashup’ and ‘screen scraping’ – which allow for data from multiple sources to be synthesised and repackaged – had the potential to revolutionise how citizens access information on public services. “The Power of Information review recommended that government create a data mashing capability, often called a data-mashing lab,” he added. “My officials are looking hard at this.”

Innovative information-sharing is becoming a crucial part of the government’s public service reform agenda, the minister said. As citizens are empowered with more choice over the service they use, they demand easier access to information in order to make decisions.

Referring to an online contest asking the public for original ideas on information use, the minister said many exciting ideas had emerged. “The contest has unlocked some interesting ideas already,” he said. “People want to be able to find health facilities more easily, they want simple online tools to help them find out where they’ll have the shortest wait, they want to see where their health money is being spent, which doctors are most effective. All that information is already available, but is not necessarily presented so that people can find it. It is broken up and not held in one place.”

Watson said that some of the most innovative uses of public information – especially geographical data – were emanating from gifted amateurs making clever use of data-mashing and scraping. “We see people submitting prototypes; large-scale manipulations of public information. Some are map-based applications, using Ordnance Survey’s Open Space or Google Earth.

“You don’t need a huge systems integrator and a massive IT contract to produce these products; they can be done quickly, easily and cheaply by bright kids in their bedrooms”.

Watson said his own enthusiasm for information-sharing was partially based on his experience creating and disseminating information through his blog. He said his eagerness to blog had even got him in trouble with less information-minded civil servants: “My officials sometimes grumble that I’ve blogged meetings before they’ve got back to their departments – it causes all sorts of compliance issues – but that is the future.”

Addressing concerns that information shared by civil servants could lead to misrepresentation or misunderstanding by others, Watson said: “I can understand that, I’m a politician and a blogger so I know what it’s like to be misquoted or have your words stretched beyond their original meaning.

“But on a more philosophical level, I don’t think we can pretend any more that information is neutral – it is a vital part of our society”.