The Prime Minister told MPs on Wednesday that he was asking the creator of the web "to help us drive the opening up of access to Government data in the web over the coming months."

Speaking from Boston in the United States, where he is based, Sir Tim told the BBC that he saw a growing public demand for access to government data.

"This is our data, this is our taxpayers' money which has created this data so I would like to be able to see it please," he said.

Campaigners have pressed for a wide range of public data, from mapping information to MPs' expenses, to be made available on the web.