UK Government: What we’re doing on open standards

What we’re doing on open standards. Government Technology Team. 7 September 2015.
     The UK government technology team has been selecting open standards to help government to adapt to changing needs and technologies. "Open Document Format (ODF) is an important standard - by making documents in a format that is open to all, we are ensuring that there are no barriers or bias when we provide services to the public."  The underlying principle is that people should not have to buy new equipment or software in order to read an official document. The technology team looked at the formats that should be used for government documents and chose the Open Document Format. Since then:

• all of central government has committed to moving to the ODF 1.2 for their editable documents
• most departments have published their implementation plans
• the proportion of ODF documents on GOV.UK is increasing steadily
• software suppliers are providing better support for open formats in their products

A guidance manual has been created to help the government departments a they move to ODF. The manual includes topics such as:

• Introduction to Open Document Format (ODF)  
• Procure ODF solutions
• Validators and compliance testing 
• Platforms and devices 
• Accessibility, Privacy and security 
• Best practices and other information

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