Data Grand Challenge
The Department is leading work for the Science and Innovation Ministerial Committee's Data Grand Challenge on realising the benefits of (in particular real-time) data within and outside of government.
The rapid development of information and communication technologies is transforming not only the way in which data can be managed and communicated but also the type and quantity of data generated. Data-intensive technologies are major drivers of public & private sector innovation and wealth creation.
To realise the potential benefits of these technologies, and protect against their abuse, requires improving access to data held across different government departments and from external sources.
The potential benefits of better data use
- More informed policies - better access to data improves the development, delivery and monitoring of policies.
- Improved public services - data sharing between central and local government, and their partners, to produce more efficient, personalised, customer-focussed public services.
- Better regulation - reduce duplicated requests to citizens and business by more efficient use and sharing of data already held.
- Foster innovation - through greater access public sector data.
- Protect vulnerable groups - better data sharing can better target services to those most in need and help coordinate work between agencies.
- Empowering citizens - by improving access to public sector information will help hold government more accountable.
Among the obstacles that prevent the realization of these benefits are issues concerning:
- Data Sources - what data is available; where and how is it stored?
- Data Access - how is data made more accessible to legitimate users?
- Data Use - what limits are placed on the uses to which data can be put?
- Data Confidentiality - how can personal data be protected or anonymised?
- Data Security - how secure is the data from unapproved access?
Government's Role
The role of Government concerning data use is not limited to simply making more efficient use of the data it holds:
- Customer / user of data
- Supplier / collector of data
- Regulator of public and private sector data use
- Custodian of public interest (protecting privacy and confidentiality)
These roles are highly interdependent, the way in which Government seeks to regulate data use, for example, will influence opportunities for innovation in both the public and private sectors. Government has a duty of balancing the potential benefits of greater data access against legitimate concerns about data use and the risks of misuse.
What are we doing?
The challenge seeks to highlight how Government can enable the delivery of innovative solutions by resolving issues that impede data access by:
- Identifying existing barriers (legal, technical, social, economic or political) that impede data sharing and how these might be addressed.
- Commissioning the rapid development of novel beta applications to demonstrate how cross-government data improve the provision of public services and inform policy.
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An example of the output from work funded by DfT is this draft map showing travel time, in hours, including waiting times from Edinburgh Waverly Station by train at 7am on a weekday created by mySociety. |
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The Department is working with other cross-government initiatives including the Transformational Government Strategy, the MISC31 Ministerial committee on data sharing and the Council of Science and Technology's work on better use of personal information, to inform Government policy on data access and development of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
For related documents, pages and internet links, see the column on the right.
