This project was born at LocalGov Camp 2014, during a session on common technology standards for local government services.

Given the extent of collaboration needed to agree and establish a common service standard, we felt that a staffed and structured partnership was the only way forward. So, we decided to start with one important local service area, and found some resources to design and administer a pilot project. We’ve been working with a small group of local authorities to take this forward. What we’ve started to understand though both anecdotal conversations and the data that they have shared with us, in regard to their waste services, is that data standards and the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) could dramatically reduce costs if applied across the sector. This video explains more, but for the real details visit http://www.localdirect.gov.uk/product.... We’re particularly excited about the savings we’re projecting, based on available data, in just one service. This suggests there is potential for saving significantly more if data standards and APIs become a part of all sorts of other local public services. Video by @mattwh1Audio Track: Air Hockey Saloon by Chris Zabriskie. Creative commons licensed, via Free Music Archive.