Public-Sector Jobs Database

Submitted by: John Geddes

Describe your idea. How does it work and who does it help?

We establish an "Open Source" national Repository that will hold details of every job vacancy in national government, local government, quangos - and any job in any other organisation (eg a charity) where the post is even partly financed from public funds.

For major categories (eg schools, universities, NHS) there would be specific vocabularies and nomenclatures, along with links to static data on the organisation - so that one could search for jobs teaching geography suitable for someone with 2 years' experience, in a school with a sixth-form, with at least 1200 pupils and an Ofsted rating of at "Satisfactory" or better, within 30 miles of a specific postcode.

The government-sponsored scheme should include a basic search engine (with the facility to generate a user ID that allows the user to save their search and to reject vacancies they have seen but rejected - on their next visit they can see just the new vacancies matching their criteria). But the long-term aim would be for this engine to be discontinued as soon as the commercial and/or voluntary sectors have developed applications drawing on the Repository data that deliver at least as much functionality.

The requirement to file details of every vacancy to the repository, before it is published anywhere else (online or in print) would be enforced by making a £200 charge for listing vacancies that had not been filed properly, with £100 being kept to help fund the Repository and the other £100 going to whoever first reported a non-conforming ad, providing an incentive for individuals to police the system.

The requirement to list jobs that have been financed with public funds would work rather like the "General Public License" (GPL) works with software code. Each time funds are given by one body to another, the recipient has to agree that they will pass on the obligation to list funded posts (or to pay the late-filing fee) to those to whom they give the funds - the requirement would flow with the money so that a charity receiving a grant from the local PCT to fund an information worker would find the listing requirement as part of the terms of the grant.

User Benefit - an easier way for busy people to find publicly-funded jobs.

Public Benefits -  increasing the average quality of appointees to publicly-funded jobs (as more-talented people will be the most likely not to bother if finding out is time-consuming). AND a massive potential saving in not having to advertise jobs elsewhere. With EVERY teaching job (for example) guaranteed to be listed on the Repository, then anyone looking for a teaching job will be sure to consult a job search engine that uses the Repository. And if every teacher is going to do that, there is no need for schools to pay to advertise in print, or on fee-charging job sites. The saving in public expenditure could be enormous.

What information or services do you need?

A record (using a standard schema) for each publicly-funded job vacancy.

Static data covering schools, hospitals, universities etc