The newly appointed Data for London Advisory Board has held its first meeting under its brief to support the city’s mayor and chief digital officer in using data to deal with public services challenges.
Appointed by Mayor Sadiq Khan, the board met at City Hall today to discuss London’s draft data strategy and a proposed programme of work under the Data for London programme. This will focus on issues including information governance, data ethics, open data and data standards.
The board comprises 21 members, primarily from the public sector but with representatives from academia, the legal sector and the IT industry. They include London’s chief digital officer Theo Blackwell, the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) executive director strategy and communications Niran Mothada, Metropolitan Police Service director of data Aimee Reed, the London Fire Brigade’s head of intelligence Andy Mobbs and director of digital strategy for NHS England, London region James Friend.
The GLA said the diversity balance of the inaugural board is 55% female, 30% BAME and 11% disabled.
Challenges and action
Blackwell commented: “Joining up data can help City Hall and other key London organisations gain insights into some our most pressing challenges and take action to resolve them. This can be through informing better decisions or by supporting innovators to create new products and services.
“London is the centre of data economy and innovation, and we must continue to evolve and update our data ecosystem to remain at the cutting edge.
“The Data for London Advisory Board will improve the responsible and effective use and sharing of data to support every one of the mayor’s manifesto commitments and to help build a better, smarter London for everyone.”
When the mayor’s office invited applications for membership of the board it indicated that it would take on some of the work of the Smart London Board, which was wrapped up last year.
One of its priorities will be the development of the Data for London Platform, a new iteration of the existing London Datastore with extra functionality for real time data.
