National and international imperatives of a UK national information policy

Abstract

No comprehensive national information policy exists in the UK. Although there are many practical reasons for its absence, the lack of political will by government is probably decisive. This paper attempts to examine the political pressures (both domestic and international) for and against a UK national information policy: initially by looking at the major factors which militate against the formulation of a policy (most of these are a result of government philosophy and domestic politics), and then by looking at developments which might bring a policy into existence (most of these relate to political and economic developments in Europe). The number of government departments involved in information matters, their individual and disparate policies, the success of the market‐led information economy, and the difficulty in controlling the multi‐national element of this economy, all stand in the way of the establishment of a national policy. Yet the single European market, European regulations, the need to formulate a European information policy, the historic parallels with other sectors of European policy, each of which have profound economic implication, suggest that the present vacuum might have to be filled.

Citation

Malley, I. (1990), "National and international imperatives of a UK national information policy", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 42 No. 3, pp. 89-95. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb051163