The Scottish Government has 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 special panel set up by government to formalise its approach on sharing public sector data with external organisations.
Thirty people were selected at random and recruited to 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 the University of Edinburgh designed and facilitated the public 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, which was overseen by the Data and Intelligence Network (DIN), and the more recent Ukrainian displaced people.
They were also given an opportunity to review current and future data-led projects.
The panel listened to presentations from experts, learned about the issues, discussed them, and then drew conclusions together to form the set of ethical guidelines.
Those findings, presented in the report, will inform policies in support of the wider public sector commitment to ethical and transparent use of data about citizens.
The key findings were:
- Broadly speaking, the panel was trusting of the public sector’s use of data with the expectation rules and regulations around the use of data would be followed and agencies should be held accountable for any misuse.
- Participants felt that use of data by the public sector should 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.
- Data quality was seen as an important ethical consideration. Participants stressed the importance of data-driven decisions being made with up-to-date and accurate information
- Views were influenced by the context in which data were being used, specifically whether it was an emergency situation or not.
- The panel was sensitive to the impacts of data use, both positive and negative, on marginalised groups.
- Participants felt that an independent body should oversee decisions about data use and hold organisations accountable for any misuse of data.
- The panel felt that the public had an important role to play in helping shape how data were used by the public sector.
Those findings were then distilled into a wider set of ethical guidelines, and the panel agreed that its continued existence beyond the initial consultation could ‘create a blueprint for a long-term, sustainable form for engaging and involving the public in data policy, scrutiny and decisions’. The panel also agreed that private sector organisations should be able to access and use public sector, as long as the data are not used solely (directly or indirectly) for profit.
Richard Lochhead, minister for business, said: “The people of Scotland will be the guardians of our approach to how citizens’ data is used. This is why the Scottish Government and Research Data Scotland convened a pilot public engagement panel to explore the ethical implications of sharing citizens’ data in the public interest.
“As you’ll read in this report, the engagement drew out rich and nuanced insights from the public participants on a complex and vitally important subject. There is a strong realisation among the participants of the potential benefits from ethical data-sharing, and the important role the public can play in helping shape how data is used by the public sector.
“Reassuringly, the findings highlight a good level of confidence in the safeguarding of data by the Scottish public sector. I also welcome this opportunity to seek public scrutiny on data-led activities that were delivered under the challenging circumstances of recent years, and look forward to learning from this feedback.
“I am grateful to all members of the panel who have contributed to this pilot. We will review the ethical guidelines they have produced, and reflect on the emerging findings from this dialogue.”