Hi Greg,
The aim for service providers to maintain their own data is described as an ultimate aim because we know it is not possible just yet. It implies reliable data but we go beyond that because we need affordable sustainable reliable data. The service provider maintaining it themselves is the cheapest option for the tax payer and it is good data quality practice for the data owner to take responsibility so we think it is a good aspiration.
We know there are little drivers for a service provider to maintain their own data but this is a catch-22 situation. As soon as there is a demand for this information then providers will see the benefit of them maintaining it once. However, their lack of data maintenance limits the current demand because the data is out of date and costly to maintain. We need to drive things forward to attain the critical mass so we can reach the ultimate aim.
For now we have several initiatives going on to help maintain accurate data. We also categorise things as suggesting data, collecting data and assuring data. We are looking to use volunteers and frontline workers to suggest new services, amendments and point out errors. We have service providers (labelled proxy on the diagram) who need someone to maintain their data for them, some providers (labelled monitor) have a best endeavour to maintain but may need help and then some are providers that we trust (labelled trusted) to maintain it themselves. The assurers are the fall back and we hope are a diminishing resources as momentum builds.
Hope that explains our thinking on the ultimate aim.
cheers
Ian