The London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) has laid out six steps to support data sharing between local organisations.
It comes as the result of working with chief information officers and information governance at the capital’s boroughs, along with the Greater London Authority (GLA), and as part of a joint statement of intent on responsible data collaboration.
LOTI’s data projects manager Jay Saggar told UKAuthority’s online Data4Good conference on Friday that it has published the details so that organisations in other parts of the country could use them.
“These focus on information governance but also the practicalities of dealing with a data project, to try to unblock some of those things that have slowed down some initiatives,” he said.
The first step is to use the organisation’s four-part methodology in designing data projects, ensuring they have specific outcomes in mind and pinning down exactly which datasets are needed and why. This is followed by using the London Datastore as the default platform for data sharing as this is simpler and more consistently secure than sharing through encrypted spreadsheets, and can help build automation into the data exchange process.
Third is to use Information Governance for London (IGfL) as the main forum for creating and vetting data sharing agreements. This can help to reduce the number of internal conversations needed in setting up an agreement.
IG process
Fourth is using the seven-step information governance process designed by LOTI and IGfL, which specifies what measures are needed and who should be involved in each one. Adopting a common process should make it easier for organisations to work together on data sharing.
Next is to use the Information Sharing Gateway, an online platform developed by the Lancashire and Cumbria Information Governance Group, for creating agreements.
Finally, organisations should use the Dapian digital platform, which has been endorsed by the Information Commissioner’s Office, for data privacy impact assessments.
“Our remit is to support the London boroughs, but this stuff is generally generic enough that most public sector organisations could probably benefit from understanding the principles,” Saggar said.
He added that LOTI has also been working on a project with Camden and Central Bedfordshire Councils, the GLA and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on data exchange with organisations in the voluntary and community sector (VCS) – fuelled by the early responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This has involved designing two models on how to start and run community insights projects that are suited to the context of each authority, followed by setting up an early adopter cohort to work on a single project in each region. Two pilots for the models are due to get underway soon, along with the creation of a research plan to learn from them.
Need for trust
“One of the key things we found from the discovery was that before we could get the data flowing it’s really about the relationships and the trust,” he said. “You can design a great collaboration mechanism or a fancy tool, but if VCS organisations don’t really have 100% trust they won’t use the platform and the flow of data won’t happen.
“This is exacerbated by the difference in capabilities across the VCS; some organisations are digitally capable but many are not.
“The number one lesson we found was to start by building a really strong relationship between those organisations.”
Image from iStock, Phonlamai Photos
