The potential of data to transform public services, such as healthcare, has been a topic that I’ve touched on numerous times in the past, and there has been a plethora of papers and studies highlighting both the progress to date, and suggested pathways for progress. The latest of these comes from the Reform think tank, who have recently issued a paper on how data can be used effectively in the public sector.
The paper aims to highlight the immense potential for data sharing across the public sector, and how this can transform the delivery of public services. Whilst there has been much talk of the benefits data can bring to public service, and some early examples to illustrate this, there remains no clearly defined data infrastructure provided by the government to allow data to be shared across public services.
Technical challenges
The authors believe that a number of technical challenges need to be overcome for this data infrastructure to emerge. For instance, common data formats need to be agreed upon so that data can be easily shared across services. The quality of data must also be improved upon, with monitoring undertaken to ensure that quality and standards are maintained.
APIs offer a potential way out of this malaise, but even then they are only able to deliver results if common standards are applied with a solid and robust data model. With no single data governance body in existence, the authors believe instead that procurement should be used to guide behaviors.
“To encourage competition and improve interoperability in the longer term, procurement rules should make interoperability a prerequisite for competing companies, allowing customers to integrate their choices of the most appropriate products from different vendors,” they say.
Establishing trust
Trust is also of fundamental importance if data is to be shared at any kind of scale. Data privacy and security concerns persist, and have made the public all too well aware of the risks they face with regards to their data. What’s more, the authors suggest that the public are not at all confident that the government will act with their best interests in mind.
“Currently, just 9 per cent of people feel that the Government has their best interests at heart when data sharing, and only 15 per cent are confident that government organisations would deal well with a cyber-attack,” they say.
This suggests that not only does the government need to up its game in terms of data governance, but also much more needs to be done to engage the public so that they are aware both of the benefits of data sharing but also their rights and the protocols used by the government to ensure their data is used appropriately.
Legal challenges
With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) now in full force, there are new legal complexities to deal with. As GDPR sits on top of a number of pre-existing regulations, it can be a complex landscape for public sector organizations to navigate. Dealing with data in the correct way often requires a level of resource that isn’t there, and it can put many off from working more extensively with data. The authors believe that central government should do more to help demystify things.
“It is, therefore, crucial to provide mediums which demystify legislation for those trying to understand how to use data properly within the legal landscape,” they say.
The report then concludes with 13 recommendations, including mandating that technology vendors ensure their products are compatible with APIs as part of the procurement process, and using procurement to push open standards as the norm.
