Architect in GB
What this register publishes today, what is missing, and the smallest change that would move it up.
What was found
The clearest case in the index of a statutory register sold back to the public. Anyone may search the register free, and a copy of the whole register is a purchase: a paid PDF download behind a link that expires, after which you buy it again. The board’s own publication scheme lists the website and the purchase download as two separate things. Both open data entries for this register are dead, one with no link to any data at all and the other last touched in 2013.
What it publishes
| Check | Answer | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| A public page per licence | Yes | Gives a reader something to look at and a checker something to archive and attest against. |
| A bulk export | Paid | Lets a consumer hold the whole list instead of fetching one licence at a time, and lets anyone hash it. |
| Machine readable | No | A CSV or JSON rather than a page built for a browser. Decides whether checking can be automated at all. |
| Signed | No | Makes the file impossible to forge or mirror convincingly. Nothing reaches grade A without it. |
The next step
Export the list
A page per licence is already most of the work. What is missing is the same data as one file, at a stable address, refreshed on whatever cadence the register already runs. That is tier A of RVW-5 and it moves this row to grade B.
A grade describes a register, not the authority behind it and not the quality of its supervision. An authority can run an excellent register and still sit at grade D because it is a search form.
If this row is wrong, it gets corrected with the correction published beside it. The index is useful only if it can be argued with. Tell the lab.