A new round of consultation has opened on a standardised method of publishing election results.

The Local Government Association, Cabinet Office, Electoral Commission and other partners have published a suggested data specification, which it is hoped that local authorities will adopt.

The new standard, which could operate alongside existing methods of publication, would make it easier to create apps and other online tools and analytics to analyse election results.

A statement by the partners said: “Similar initiatives have been started in the past but have foundered – largely due to plans that were too ambitious for local authorities to publish the data to common standards. 

“Significant progress has been made in recent years with the advancement of the transparency agenda and more widespread data publishing.”

A proposed data schema based on simple comma separated values and existing local government standards was created.

A first round of consultation refined the specification and considered the technology changes needed to implement outcomes and minimise burden on the data publishers.

Comments on the proposals can be made on the Local Open Data Community Group pages on local governent’s Knowledge Hub.