The London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) has launched three initiatives on data ethics in the public sector.
It has set up the London Data Ethics Service, developed a toolkit for local authorities developing their capabilities in the field, and created a data ethicist role to support the work of the capital’s boroughs.
The moves follow LOTI’s setting out of principles and pillars for data ethics in local government earlier in the year.
A blogpost from LOTI – which has more than half of London’s boroughs among its members – says the London Data Ethics Service will be delivered under the supervision of its data ethicist and base its work on three pillars.
The first will be project facilitation, involving short workshops with teams managing data projects; the second helping to develop capabilities; and the third developing pan-London resources, standards or initiatives, working with external partners wherever possible.
The toolkit for local authorities to develop their own capabilities comprises 16 recommendations with practical tips and examples of good practice. They were sourced through desk research and conversations with organisations including the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, the Central Digital and Data Office and the Local Government Association.
The data ethicist role is being taken on by Sam Nutt, the digital and data innovation researcher at LOTI.
Essential element
The organisation’s data projects manager Jay Saggar, speaking at the UKAuthority AI and Data4Good conference last week, said: “At LOTI we believe data ethics should be an essential part of the design of any data project.”
He pointed to five factors in the rationale: to prevent poor outcomes; that residents have higher expectations of data ethics than is currently provided for by the law; that ethics helps to support innovation while maintaining an organisation’s reputation; that there is an opportunity to show leadership; and it is the right thing to do.
“If you don’t do it there are huge reputation risks,” he explained. “This is about providing a platform to innovate that allows you to do so in a way that won’t blow up in your face.”
