The Local Digital unit in the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has launched an effort to increase the take-up of open data standards by local authorities.
It said it is making a new investment in standards it already supports – notably Open Referral UK for community services and SAVVI for identifying vulnerable people and households – along with others in DLUHC policy areas such as social housing.
“This focus should allow us to use a wide range of levers and show visible ownership of the issue, which we’ve identified as a key driver of adoption success,” Local Digital said in a blogpost.
“Our ambition is to tackle critical standards in other policy areas within the next few years as part of an ongoing initiative. Any standard we create will be open, available for everyone to use.”
It added that it is also providing funding to iStand, the council led group that is leading the work on SAVVI (Scalable Approach to Vulnerability via Interoperability) and the Local Government Association with plans to include representatives of local authorities and suppliers in the delivery teams.
Three stages
The effort will be based on the results of a six-week research project on previous attempts to establish standards across councils – from which Local Digital has compiled a report. This identified the need for three stages: to build the standard; encourage adoption; and support adoption.
“We learned the approach for adoption should vary based on what the intervention is, who it’s for, and what the source of the intervention is,” Local Digital said.
It added that is currently recruiting research participants for the alpha phase of work on housing standards and will soon begin work with iStand on the second phase of the data standards initiative.
Last month Local Digital set out a three-year plan, backed by initial funding of £600,000, to promote local authorities’ take-up of the Open Referral standard.
