After a long absence, January saw the return of the Public Sector Executive Podcast with a new host and new opportunities for listeners to garner key insights into the sector.
The first episode of the new run of monthly podcasts saw James Hartley-Binns, the Head of Programme Engagement for the Office of National Statistics’ Integrated Data System sitting down to discuss how the system can solve public sector problems and answer questions before they are even asked.
The public sector, naturally, holds immense amounts of data to help make informed decisions on how to deliver key services for people. With these huge amounts of information, spread across different departments and all levels of governance, it is clear to see where there may be issues with how data is shared around. Considering the sheer amount of the data available, there are many barriers that will stop departments easily sharing data around. James explained some of these barriers, saying:
“During the pandemic, sharing data became more important than ever, as you can well imagine. One thing that it shone a light on was the complexities of doing so. Access restrictions and boundaries between organisations have always posed challenges for onward sharing of data and analysis of data, and analysts working within government have often had to navigate complex legal frameworks and isolated working.”
Not only does there need to be a solution that effectively allows access to the data in a way that helps users interpret it so they can make a decision, it also needs to remain secure due to the nature of the data involved. This security element intrinsically has a link to a change in the data-sharing culture of government departments.
Listen to the full podcast via the video above, on the embedded button below.
