Harnessing the data explosion for public good

Jessica Figueras, Vice-Chair of the UK Cyber Security Council, welcomes all delegates, sponsors, and speakers to our conference and sets out the day’s agenda.

A senior representative from the English central government will set out the current state of play for data across various  departments and outline plans for activity as the public sector moves through 2022 and beyond.

Data is now the number one asset for public sector organisations wishing to transform outcomes for citizens, and there is huge excitement about the possibilities. Government has been increasingly active in furthering the use of data and AI, and consulting on a new pro-innovation regulatory framework.

But there’s trepidation too, with civil society organisations raising increasingly loud alarm bells over bias, privacy and security. It’s also not clear whether all public bodies have the infrastructure, resources and most importantly the skills to take advantage of the new approaches.

Insight from some leading data experts from the public and private sectors.

Many organisations are exploring the potential of machine learning to support decision-making – but public bodies are held to a higher standard than their private sector counterparts. Citizens expect to be treated fairly, and taxpayers expect accountability and transparency. Those using new approaches in service delivery or policymaking will increasingly be expected to explain their assumptions and reasoning, but not all techniques produce explainable outputs.

So what do public leaders need to know about explainable AI? What’s expected, and what questions should you be asking your technical teams and suppliers?

The presentation of a UK Government data case study from a contributor.

Some of the most promising areas for data innovation in government and the wider public sector are also some of the most sensitive. Developing targeted interventions, optimising medical treatments, and preventing fraud and security breaches increasingly mean processing large volumes of personally identifiable data. That data must be kept safe and used appropriately – a challenge that’s even greater when the data crosses organisational boundaries.

So what are the options when it comes to safe data sharing? And is anonymisation, using synthetic data, a solution?

The UK has an especially vibrant open data ecosystem, with public bodies, charities and others developing innovative tools based on public data to support a wide range of social impact missions.

We’ll hear from some of those organisations about the opportunities, the challenges, and what you need to know before embarking on your own open data initiative.

Insight from some leading data experts from the public and private sectors.

The pandemic has shone a spotlight on how disease outcomes can be significantly different for men and women. And health is not the only area where that happens: from pensions and saving to crime and employment, men and women have notably and consistently different experiences.

How are public bodies approaching the challenge of collecting and using data for better policy and decision-making?

The presentation of a UK Government data case study from a contributor.

Public bodies have a special responsibility to safeguard children, and data relating to children is collected for a wide range of statutory and other purposes. Now the regulatory framework is beginning to tighten, with the introduction of the Age Appropriate Design Code, and the UK’s new online safety regime starting to take shape. What issues do public bodies need to consider in relation to children’s data? And how might new technology contribute to children’s safety and wellbeing in the UK?

Our chair, Jessica Figueras, summarises the sessions that you have heard today and closes the conference