The Coronavirus Pandemic is Forcing Governments to Recognise the Potential for Data
By: Lauren Toulson
Tags: Data, Policy, Eu, Government, Pandemic

Finn Mohrasri explores the latest Government updates, this month exploring post-COVID-19 data and tech strategy.

Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash

UK Policy: Impact of COVID-19 on the Data Landscape and Government Data Strategy

Following up on last month’s policy update, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have published their National Data Strategy early, laying out their framework to “unlock the power of data for the UK”. Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport declared in the publication’s Ministerial Foreword that the strategy builds on the Government’s manifesto pledge to improve data use in Government and free up businesses and organisations to use data to “innovate, experiment and drive a new era of growth”.

As unusual as it is for a Government department to deliver something early, the report which acts only as a framework is encouragingly comprehensive. While the Government is skimping on tech and data legislation, the National Data Strategy is looking like a promising initiative in filling the void.

The Strategy outlines the key issues with the current data approach within the UK government and the issues preventing more effective use of available data. Key throughout the Strategy’s initial framework report is the massive potential for data, made ever clearer by the cross-Government response to the COVID-19pandemic. The report zones in on the vital role data and tech has played in the Government’s pandemic response and will continue to play in the UK’s post-COVID recovery. The need for widespread data-sharing practices, coupled with robust data protection and privacy measures are evident throughout the report. Underlining the Strategies core model are four pillars covering identified issues currently preventing more effective data use within and across Government:

(1) Data Foundations: Standardised, accessible and future-proof data-sets;

(2) Data Skills: A digitally skilled workforce, delivered through the education system and life-long learning initiatives;

(3) Data Availability: Increased data sharing between public, private and third sector organisations, coupled with end-to-end protections;

(4) Responsible Data Use: Ensure data is used responsibly, lawfully sustainably, and ethically, while supporting innovation and research;

The report stresses that it outlines only a framework for the Strategy and does not yet lay out exact steps to achieve its aims. It has opened a second period of public consultation running until December this year. To read more about the strategy and its first report, see here.

While the Department for Culture, Media and Sport highlight the need to use data more effectively, this month the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published its Accountability Framework to guide organisations and businesses in implementing and demonstrating accountability in relation to information and data they use. An expectedly comprehensive and detailed document spanning 97 dense pages, the Information Commissioner’s Office seeks to ensure organisations and businesses have all the necessary information to be able to demonstrate accountability in their information and data practices and measures in accordance with GDPR — this may have to be updated very soon. Read the full document here or read more about how big tech companies are changing their approach to data protection and privacy here.

EU Policy: Data and Tech in Post-COVID Recovery and the Web Accessibility Directive

The UK are not the only ones recognising the central role data and tech has played in global coronavirus responses and will play in subsequent post-COVID recovery. The EU Commission has published a Commission Recommendation “calling Member States to boost investment in very high-capacity broadband connectivity infrastructure”, such as 5G networks, identifying 5G as the “most fundamental block of the digital transformation and an essential pillar of the [post-COVID] recovery”. The EU Commission argue that investment in tech and digitisation will offer significant economic opportunities and act as a crucial asset for European competitiveness and sustainability.

The Recommendation highlights the essential role connectivity between people, organisations, and businesses has played throughout the duration of the pandemic, enabling schooling, healthcare, and personal communication for millions. It also highlights the massive swathes of data that are being used to power transport, healthcare, logistics and media sectors that need to be supported by infrastructure that can support such amass of data effectively and efficiently. A perhaps surprisingly short document at 13 pages, you can read more here.

It is easy for policy-makers to get lost amidst the pandemic’s other policy responses, but the EU has announced that all public sector websites across the EU must implement the Web Accessibility Directive from 23rd September 2020. The Directive aims to ensure that all public websites are accessible to all persons with disabilities. 5million persons with disabilities in the EU do not use the internet due to some form of disability, the Directive is designed to enable all users to “be able to perceive, operate, and understand public sector websites”, through assistive and other technologies.

US Policy: Data and Tech Investment and Utilisation in Response to Pandemic

This COVID-directed focus on data and tech transformation has not been lost in the US either.

With the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the White House launching a COVID-19 Performance Computing Consortium to provide researchers worldwide with access to the “world’s most powerful high performance computing resources” to catalyse progress on a vaccine for COVID-19 and a “Call to Action” to develop a machine-readable COVID-19 data-set, the US are not skimping on their hyperbole– they are also, rightly recognising the key role data and tech will play in developing a more effective response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

As in the UK and the EU, the US have recognised the need to better use data held by Government departments, something that has been made further apparent by the ongoing global pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has opened further Governments’ eyes to the massive potential of effective and efficient data use. This is not only apparent for data use within and across governments, but for organisations and business across the public, private and third sectors collectively. Last month, Digital Bucket Company took a look at the role of data within the tourism industry. This month, Digital Bucket Company turns its attention to data in health — how it can help us improve public health and respond to pandemics.

This update was written by Finn Mohrasri for Digital Bucket Company. The Digital Bucket Company operates in the UK and works with clients in overcoming data challenges including privacy concerns.