Questions and concerns around the sharing and re-use of public data has been a “barrier” to improving public services, according to the Scottish Government’s chief data officer.
Tom Wilkinson made the point at the latest round of CivTech, the Scottish Government’s innovation accelerator scheme to building better public services.
Wilkinson was part of the launch for CivTech 10.7 – looking at how technology can deliver high-quality, efficient, and scalable participation in Scottish Government decisions.
With the growing societal role of artificial intelligence (AI), it’s a question that policymakers are increasingly keen to address.
“The questions and concerns around suitable sharing and re-use of public data, it could be said, have been a barrier to a lot of potentially very valuable improvements to public sector decision-making and the efficiency and effectiveness of public services,” said Wilkinson.
“This challenge is not just about understanding the public view of data ethics and AI ethics; it’s also about developing tools that could help us scale up the use of the Scottish Government participation framework in general, helping us get more insights and views from the public across all of the different policy areas that Scottish Government covers.”
The CivTech programme is looking to engage technology providers in an innovation challenge – sponsored by the Chief Data Office, Scottish Government and Open Government, Scottish Government – that will culminate in May next year. In the end, a contract of up to £650,000 could be awarded to the successful applicant
And the benefits of a tech solution to public engagement could go “well beyond” data and AI – and be a more cohesive approach to consultation in general, added Wilkinson.
“Research we’ve done around existing technologies in the world of participation has suggested that although there are a lot of tools out there, many of them – if not the majority – are focused on a narrow part of the participation process, leaving a lot of gaps for new approaches and new technological solutions to be introduced to help make the overall participation process as scalable as possible,” Wilkinson, pictured left, said.
CivTech is not the only channel for increasing public engagement in data decision-making. In August, the Scottish Government published a set of ethical guidelines for the use of public sector data – including by third party and commercial organisations.
Members of the public contributed to a panel set up by the government to formalise its approach to sharing public sector data with external organisations.
Thirty people were selected at random for the panel, which was co-managed with Sciencewise – a public engagement programme led by the UK Research and Innovation. Ipsos, the research body, and its partners at Edinburgh University designed and facilitated the panel.
Once selected, panellists were given an overview of government work on data – including past projects, such as the shielding work carried out by government and the NHS during Covid. They were also given an opportunity to review current and future data-led projects.
The findings were generally positive, albeit panellists felt public sector data should be safeguarded. Broadly speaking, they were trusting of the public sector’s use of data but with the expectation that rules and regulations around the use of data should be followed and that agencies be accountable for any misuse.
Participants felt that use of data by the public sector should also have a clearly defined purpose and scope, to avoid misuse of data about citizens.
The panel agreed that the use of data was only acceptable if there was a clear public benefit, or public good.
In another development, the Scottish Government came together in October with NHS National Services Scotland and The Data Lab to create a “vision for public sector data” in Scotland over the next 20 years.
The draft document, which invited a public response, set out by describing the “difficulties” faced by data professionals in public services when trying to influence colleagues and senior leaders.
The objective of the report is to get feedback on the vision, developed by a specially convened Horizon Scan group of 30 people from the public, private and voluntary sectors.
Shona Nicol, head of technical data policy, data division, digital directorate, said: “As a data professional, it can sometime feel hard to get others interested in data. Perhaps like many in this profession, I can often express the importance and value of data for good in an overly technical way.
“However when our biggest challenges in Scotland include eradicating child poverty, growing the economy and tackling the climate emergency, I would argue that we should all take an interest in data because it’s going to be foundational in helping us solve these problems.”
