Early efforts to make the Government’s online identity assurance platform available for local government are beginning to build momentum
The team behind the GOV.UK Verify programme is planning to work on a series of discovery projects with local authorities as part of an effort to encourage the use of the online identity assurance platform for local services.
Following a call for potential partners, it has received service information from more than 30 interested councils and is now looking at a three stage prioritisation process, according a project team blogpost.
The first involves identifying the authorities with the capacity to work on a discovery project this year, meeting the programme’s security and data privacy standards. The blog says the councils are likely to already be into planning their transformations and should be able to meet some ambitious deadlines.
Second is a plan to examine the services suggested for discovery this year, including a business case for integration with Verify.
Thirdly, the team plans to put together project plans for the priority services and invite eligible councils to collaboration on discovery projects. The aim is to demonstrate the potential for Verify in local services by the end of the year.
It also plans to establish basic risk and assurance requirements that councils would have to meet to adopt the platform.
Whitehall launch
Verify went live for a number of central government services in May, following extended periods in a beta phase, and the Government Digital Service is aiming to increase the number over the next year.
Early work on taking it into local government has focused on a project with Warwickshire County Council for using it in issuing Blue Badge disabled parking permits.
The blog says the team is taking a ‘publish by default’ approach to the discovery projects, with plans to share all of the outcomes publicly, including documentation, standards and software. It will be made available through the Local Digital Coalition’s website.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
