UK Prime Minister tries app aiding govt. decision-making

PanARMENIAN.Net - A mobile app to aid in decision-making and day-to-day government affairs is being trialed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who has been using it to keep track of live data relating to jobs, housing and other areas, BBC News reports.

The app also monitors polls and posts on social media, giving the PM an at-a-glance view of how the country feels about him and his government.

The Cabinet Office said the app would be offered to more government figures next year.

The app, which had the working title of Number 10 Dashboard, was developed by the Cabinet Office's digital team - and pulls data from hundreds of data sources including Google, Twitter and Facebook.

The Cabinet Office confirmed it was "working on a data visualization dashboard to provide ministers and civil servants with information on key public services as well as other indicators. The dashboard is in working form and is now undergoing further development".

It is a web app - meaning it can be viewed on any type of internet-enabled tablet or mobile device. It has a look and feel similar to that of the government's data website, data.gov.uk.

A source at Number 10 confirmed to the BBC that the app, which is still in its testing phase, is currently on the Prime Minister's iPad, as well as devices used by a select group of staff within the Cabinet Office.

"It's been presented to the PM in person," he said. "He's used it, given feedback on it to help improve it - and there is now great demand for it right across government."

The source said that in 2013 the app would be "rolled out across Whitehall" and would give ministers a more immediate and honest view over what is happening in the country.

"If you want to provide ministers and officials with information about performance of government, you can look at government data - but you can also look at data from the real world," he said. "All we're doing is bringing government into line with what leading companies, big and small, have been doing for several years. It's radical for government, but it's not radical for 2012."

The app will provide Cameron with information relating to "trending" topics from search engines and social media - keeping tabs on the levels of activity around key words such as "mortgage" or "loan".

It will allow the prime minister to see, in real-time, whether there are more or less vacancies day-by-day, and what the average salaries on offer are.

A traffic light system displays the current status of various government initiatives - and whether any need special attention.

Official data from the likes of the Office of National Statistics and YouGov is also incorporated.