Project Open Gov has been created to make UK Parliament and government activity easier to understand.
The aim is simple: to provide clear, neutral and accessible summaries of what is happening in Parliament and government, using official sources wherever possible. The site is intended for readers who want to follow public life but do not necessarily have the time, background knowledge, or confidence to work through parliamentary records, government announcements, votes, bills, committee publications and related material on their own.
Project Open Gov is still developing, but the central purpose is already fixed:
Parliament and government, made clear.
What the site currently does
The main feature of the site is the daily summary.
Each daily summary is designed to bring together the most relevant developments from official sources, including Parliament, Hansard, votes, bills, committees, legislation and government announcements. The purpose is not to cover every single item published on a given day. Instead, the aim is to identify the developments that are most likely to matter to a general reader and explain them in plain English.
A typical daily summary may include:
- key Commons business
- relevant Lords business
- important votes
- bills and legislation
- selected government announcements
- committee work
- links to the sources used
The summaries are intended to be concise, structured and easy to scan. They are not political commentary, and they are not written from a party-political viewpoint.
What we are working to improve
The daily summaries will continue to improve as the project develops.
One of the most important parts of this work is learning how to obtain the best possible data from official sources, structure it properly, and decide what is genuinely relevant. Parliament and government produce a large volume of information every day. Some of it is highly significant. Some of it is technical, procedural, duplicated, or only relevant to a narrow audience.
A useful summary therefore depends on more than simply collecting information. It also depends on careful selection.
That means the project is being developed around three linked stages:
Collecting reliable material
Using official sources wherever possible, including parliamentary and government data.
Identifying what matters
Filtering and ranking information so that the summaries focus on developments of genuine public interest.
Reviewing before publication
Checking the draft before it is published, so that the final article remains accurate, neutral and readable.
This approach is closely connected to the wider standards set out on the How We Work page. Automation can help collect and prepare information, but the site is not intended to publish unreviewed material automatically. The review stage is an important part of maintaining accuracy and accountability.
Daily summaries
The daily summary format is already taking shape.
The working structure includes a short introduction, an “At a glance” section, separate sections for Commons, Lords, votes, bills and legislation, government announcements, committees, and a source list at the end. The aim is to give readers a clear route through the day without overwhelming them.
This structure will continue to be refined as more real sitting days are processed. In particular, we are working on:
- improving how important debates are selected
- improving how votes are explained
- linking clearly to the sources used
- avoiding unnecessary procedural clutter
- making sure quieter days do not look artificially padded
- keeping the language plain, neutral and useful
The goal is not to produce the longest possible summary. The goal is to produce the clearest useful summary.
Weekly summaries
Weekly summaries are also being developed.
These will not simply repeat the daily summaries. The intention is for the weekly summary to give readers a broader view of the week: the main themes, the important decisions, the major debates, and the issues likely to continue into the following week.
A good weekly summary should help answer questions such as:
- What were the main parliamentary and government developments this week?
- Which issues appeared repeatedly?
- What changed?
- What was decided?
- What remains unresolved?
- What should readers watch next?
This will take time to get right. The weekly format needs a different editorial approach from the daily summary. It should be more thematic, but still neutral, restrained and source-led.
Why the summaries may change over time
Readers may notice changes in the format, emphasis and wording of summaries as the site develops.
That is intentional.
Project Open Gov is being built in stages. The first task is to create a reliable daily and weekly publishing system. As that system improves, the summaries should become more consistent, more selective and more useful.
This may include changes to:
- how source material is collected
- how parliamentary items are grouped
- how votes are described
- how committee work is selected
- how government announcements are filtered
- how summaries are structured
- how source links are presented
Where a change materially improves the site, we will aim to explain it through website update posts like this one.
Our principles
The site follows three simple principles.
Clarity
Information should be easy to read and straightforward to follow.
Parliamentary language can be formal and technical. Government announcements can be spread across many departments and formats. Project Open Gov aims to make that information easier to understand without oversimplifying it or changing its meaning.
Neutrality
Content should be based on official sources and presented without party-political framing.
The site does not exist to tell readers what to think. It exists to help readers understand what has happened, what was said, what was decided, and where they can read the source material for themselves.
Accountability
Sources should be clearly linked, and summaries should be reviewed before publication.
The site will continue to develop better ways of showing where information has come from and how it has been used. This is central to the project. A public-information site should be open about its sources and careful about its wording.
Future features
Alongside the daily and weekly summaries, Project Open Gov will continue to develop additional features to improve understanding of Parliament and government.
Planned areas include:
- simple guides to parliamentary terms and processes
- clearer vote explanations
- glossary entries
- issue briefings
- improved archive pages
- better links between summaries, guides and source material
- public-facing development updates
- future interactive features, where they genuinely help understanding
These will be added gradually. The priority is to make sure the core summary service is reliable before adding unnecessary complexity.
A developing public-information project
Project Open Gov is not being launched as a finished product and then left unchanged.
It is being developed openly and carefully, with the aim of becoming a practical, reliable reference point for anyone who wants a clearer view of what is happening in UK public life.
The work will continue to improve as the systems improve, as the summaries are tested against real parliamentary days, and as better ways are found to explain complex public information clearly.
The aim is not speed for its own sake.
The aim is clarity, neutrality and accountability.