More information is being created and held today than ever before. It is fundamental to the services we use as citizens.

To deliver effective public services and guarantee public accountability, government needs to capture, and manage effectively, the information it is creating and receiving. Both knowledge and information management are critically important to the future success of government.

Remit

The Knowledge Council has been established to lead government in the better use and management of its knowledge and information, and to support government in ensuring that it has the capability to do so effectively.

• Improving the way departments manage information as a valuable asset, ensuring it is protected, made accessible where appropriate, and used effectively to inform decision-making.
• Building a culture that shares knowledge more effectively, and builds capability in handling information of all kinds.
• Developing the professionalism of knowledge and information management, and supporting governance, processes and technology.
  

The outputs of the Knowledge Council supports both the government's Service Transformation Programme and Transformational Government by providing a strategic focus on all aspects of knowledge and information management. 

Role of members

Council members include people with responsibility for knowledge and information management within government departments and representatives from the Chief Information Officers' Council and the Chief Technology Officers' Council.

Appointments are made in agreement with their relevant Permanent Secretary, Delivery Council members and their equivalents in the wider public sector.

Members are required to consult within their organisation and be empowered to speak on its behalf. The typical Knowledge Council member is a senior civil servant and is expected to:

• Contribute to developing the Council´s agenda, particularly in cross-cutting areas.
• Personally champion the work of the Knowledge Council and the importance of knowledge and information management in their own organisations and wider areas of influence.
• Take a cross-government view whilst maintaining accountability for specific operations and programmes in their area.
• Have a Knowledge Council objective in their personal departmental objectives.
• Seek a collective view on key topics and recommendations. Subsets of the Council may complete pieces of work between meetings for discussion - individual members are expected to give a proportion of their time to this work.
• Facilitate and encourage learning from each other, and from each other´s organisations.
• Develop their staff as professional assets for the public services as a whole, and devote a significant part of their personal time to developing the next generation of knowledge and information management practitioners.

How the Knowledge Council operates

• The Knowledge Council reports to the Delivery Council, but is integrally linked to the Chief Information Officer Council. At least two Chief Information Officer sponsors are standing members of the Knowledge Council at any one time. 
• The Council is chaired by the Government Deputy Chief Information Officer. 
• The National Archives provides secretariat and other support.
• There are at least four full-day Council meetings per year. Meetings are a forum for discussion, focusing on the outcomes to be achieved in order to deliver actions set out in the strategy.
• Council members are expected to reach a collective view on key topics and recommendations.
• Members actively participate in the workstreams that support the delivery of the objectives and outputs of the Council, and arrange for their departments to provide input and resources into the work of the Council.
• Workstreams of the Council meet between Knowledge Council meetings in order to deliver on actions committed to in the knowledge and information management strategy for government.
• The Knowledge Council acts as a self-empowered team and takes collective responsibility for steering, owning and delivering agreed actions.

Should you have any further queries please contact us.