The Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) has published its report into the reform of the civil service reform and Whitehall. Change in Government: the agenda for leadership says that Whitehall needs to radically change the way it works with communities and questions whether civil servants have the skills to deliver this.

The three remaining Big Society vanguards (following Liverpool's withdrawal) have reported on the progress they have made over the past year (pdf). Eden Valley, Sutton and Windsor and Maidenhead have been supported by civil service ‘barrier busters' to take forward activities including; community asset transfer, Participatory Budgeting and neighbourhood planning activity.

Following a consultation on local authority transparency, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has published the ‘Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on data transparency'. The guidelines suggest councils should; respond to public demand and make data available in a timely way and in an accessible and useful format.
The Transparency Code.
And you can also read a summary of responses to the consultation and the Government's response to these.

Catherine Walker from the Directory of Social Change has taken a thoughtful look at the government's open data agenda in a recent blog post: