Marion King, chair and trustee of Open Banking Limited (OBL), has said she was “encouraged to see the importance of data threaded throughout the Budget” delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday (30 October).
She highlighted the Chancellor’s announcements around SME access to finance, an Open Data scheme for road fuel prices, and the “reaffirmed role of DSIT as the digital centre of government”.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves
In this role, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will bring together work on the digital transformation of public services under one department.
DSIT has been tasked with progressing “the digital changes needed to maximise the potential of digital, data and technology to deliver for the British public”, and will invest £80 million to support the transformation of corporate functions across government, “to deliver more efficient, cost-effective and modern systems as part of government’s Shared Services Strategy”.
SME finance and data library
In the Budget, the government committed to publishing post-implementation reviews of the Bank Referral Scheme and Commercial Credit Data Sharing Scheme, with the intention to consult on “enhancing both policies to better support SME access to finance”.
Charlotte Crosswell, chair of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT), said: “This was one of the seven recommendations included in the plan published by the SME Finance Taskforce back in August, which I was very proud to chair. Following on from the introduction of the Data (Use and Access) Bill last week, it’s great to see another action being progressed.”
She added: “These two schemes have made and continue to make a positive contribution to the SME finance sector, but the evolution of the market has left them in urgent need of review and updating, in order to reflect today’s lending environment.
“Doing so is a clear sign of the government’s commitment to making it easier for start-ups and scale-ups to access external sources of financial support.”
The Autumn Budget confirmed that to support more small businesses’ “digitisation efforts”, the government will extend the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce and produce an interim report early in 2025.
In addition, the Department for Business and Trade will soon announce details of a £4 million pilots package to “encourage tech adoption” among SMEs.
On LinkedIn, CFIT said this tallied with its own work on “identifying how digitising and automating processes at SMEs can help them to access finance, among other benefits”.
The Chancellor has also announced the creation of a National Data Library “to unlock the full value of our public data assets”.
The new data library intends to provide “simple, ethical, and secure access to public data assets, giving researchers and businesses powerful insights that will drive growth and transform people’s quality of life through better public services and cutting-edge innovation, including AI”.
Open Data schemes
The government confirmed the implementation of a statutory Open Data scheme for fuel prices, called ‘Fuel Finder’, to “increase price transparency which will help drivers to compare prices easily and make more informed decisions on where to buy petrol and diesel”.
Under the scheme, all UK retail petrol-filling stations will be required to report prices and the unavailability of fuel within 30 minutes of a change.
The aim is to launch Fuel Finder by the end of 2025, subject to parliamentary timings, with the Data Use and Access Bill that was introduced to Parliament earlier this month, set to provide the legislative basis to set up Fuel Finder to increase price transparency for UK drivers.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has said that sharing fuel price data will provide “growth opportunities for those that wish to use the data in innovative ways akin to Open Banking”.
OBL’s King said: “Along with the Data Use and Access (DUA) Bill, now before Parliament, it is clear there is a strong commitment to furthering the UK’s leadership in data innovation and regulatory frameworks.”
“Open Banking has already empowered millions of consumers and thousands of small businesses, facilitated efficient tax collection for HMRC to the sum of £30 billion, and contributed billions to the UK economy,” she added.
“Building on this success, the proposed support for Smart Data schemes across a range of economic sectors will lay the groundwork for a Smart Data economy that benefits businesses, public services, and consumers.”
King said that the UK had “laid a strong foundation” for Smart Data through its approach to Open Banking.
