The Office of the e-Enoy has published a new version of the e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS). The refinements include a clearer description of the rights which people have to see information about themselves. The updated standard supports the policy on metadata outlined in the e-Government Interoperability Framework.The e-GMS is designed to provide a superset of the elements, refinements and encoding schemes for organisations in the public sector creating metadata for information systems or designing search engines. This latest version has been developed to better meet records management needs and reflect changes to international standards. Compliance with the e-GMS is compulsory as this ensures consistency across the public sector.

Anwar Choudhury, Director of Markets Technology and Innovation at the Office of the e-Envoy says the changes mean the Standard will meet the needs of the public sector more fully, in line with the policy of driving up the use of key services. “It will better meet the information retrieval and management needs of the consumers and of government, enabling e-government services to be designed around the needs of citizens,” he said.

Improvements to the e-GMS include refinements to the Rights and Disposal elements which have been added in consultation with the National Archives, and which will provide a more accurate description of the rights people have to see information. The e-GMS is available on www.GovTalk.gov.uk