UK government using web app to keep up with economic data in real-time

8 Nov 2012

UK Prime Minister David Cameron

A classified ad search engine in the UK has confirmed it supplies data to a custom-built web app being developed by the British government to supply decision-makers with key data.

Dubbed the ‘Number 10 Dashboard’, the web app has apparently been in development by an in-house team for the past year and saw its beta release last month.

Such an app has previously been speculated upon, but The Next Web has confirmed its existence with Adzuna, which it says provides real-time statistics on job vacancy numbers, salary trends and housing supply to the app.

The app is said to resemble Gov.uk in its design and includes data such as trending topics from major search engines, like Google; economic indicators from the UK’s Office for National Statistics; and information on government services, spending and efficiency, as well data streams from other sites, like Twitter and YouGov.

While in beta, a small group of people – including UK Prime Minister David Cameron – are involved in testing the app. Should it prove useful, it may be deployed to more members of government in order to keep them abreast of what’s happening in the country at any given moment.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com