Royal Mail's 'unreasonable' earner from address data

[POSTMAN]

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Figures from Royal Mail on the cost of running its address database are "simply not credible", according to a group set up by the government to advise on open data policy. In a forthright response to a consultation by the regulator Ofcom into the future of the Postcode Address File (PAF), the Open Data Users' Group repeats the call it made last year for PAF to be released as an open data set for re-use - and accuses Royal Mail, the PAF's creator, of exaggerating the system's cost.
The consultation is taking place as Royal Mail is prepared for sale. Ministers are expected to make an announcement on PAF's future before the summer recess.

However the Open Data User Group points out that the consultation document redacts crucial information about the costs of maintaining the PAF, listing only a £24.5 million which Royal Mail is entitled to recover by licensing the data. The group says this estimate is unreasonably high. "It is our contention that large and unnecessary costs are being charged against PAF which are simply not credible. If we are correct, then Royal Mail are consistently failing in their statutory obligation to ensure that PAF prices are reasonable."

The response notes that Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency, which employs over 1000 staff, maintains large numbers of products including the national MasterMap database with more than 450 million entries and a far more complex structure than PAF has operational costs of £112.3 million. "We find it almost inconceivable that maintaining and delivering PAF can cost almost a quarter of the cost of mapping the entire nation."

Running the PAF as a commercial venture is "totally inappropriate for an essential part of the national information infrastructure and should cease". The group suggests that the PAF be merged into a central, fully maintained national address dataset.

In a blog post on the data.gov.uk website, Heather Savory, chair of the group, said that the licensing of physical addresses was not appropriate to the internet, where digital addressing is freely shared. "All internet users have free access to the address data under the Domain Naming System (DNS). We believe that the same should be the case for postal and geographical addresses."

Ofcom's consultation closes on Thursday.
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[Sidley]

So RM have been fiddling the figures again, quelle surprise!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I think "fiddling" would be a little unfair as that's illegal especially when there is a statutory instrument involved. I think the ODUG are more likely claiming that RM are inflating their costs rather than fiddling them.

[Wessex]

Running the PAF as a commercial venture is "totally inappropriate for an essential part of the national information infrastructure and should cease". The group suggests that the PAF be merged into a central, fully maintained national address dataset.

Ha Ha Running the Royal Mail as a commercial venture is totally inappropriate for an essential part of the nations's infrastructure.

Surely the government and their proxies can't have it both ways ?

[Wessex]

A further point is who do they think collects the data in the field ? Is it not essentially the delivery postman ? Who will collect the data for them if RM is privatised and this data service is taken from RM's hands ?

[TeeferTiger]

A further point is who do they think collects the data in the field ? Is it not essentially the delivery postman ? Who will collect the data for them if RM is privatised and this data service is taken from RM's hands ?

Quite a lot of data is sent by councils and house builders. I rarely had to ask a postie about changes to their rounds when updating walk logs and PAF at our office.

[Wessex]

I didn't know that Teefer. It's true what they say about learning something new everyday.We used to get forms I think on an annual basis I believe and had to add or subtract address points.