back to article UK.gov told data-sharing plans need vendor buy-in

Government departments should mandate interoperability when procuring systems and establish audit trails to track data use in order to benefit from data sharing, a think tank has said. Whitehall has long struggled to make the most of the masses of data it holds, largely due to poor quality data and legacy systems that don’t …

  1. tiggity Silver badge

    9 per cent

    "just 9 per cent of people ut surveyed felt the government has their best interests at heart when data sharing"

    "just" 9 percent?

    9% is a huge number in that context IMHO

    Given UK govt track record how can anyone with even half a clue think that?

    No wonder fraudsters make an easy living.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 9 per cent

      Given UK govt track record how can anyone with even half a clue think that?

      Anybody who swallows the public sector narrative on terrorism, paedophiles, tax evasion, money laundering, drugs.

      As in all surveys, the outcome depends more on who s believed to be asking the question, the context that the question is asked in, and the precise wording. Or put simply, a skilled wordsmith has vast discretion to influence the outcome in any way that they want. And even if they don't subsequent use of the result may strip it from its context and purpose to deliberately misuse it.

      So whilst Reform say 9%, according to an online article attributed to Civica (who have a financial interest in a positive outcome) 56% of people trust government with their data. According to the ICO in a 2017 study, 49% trust government to handle data securely.

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: 9 per cent

        "As in all surveys, the outcome depends more on who s believed to be asking the question, the context that the question is asked in, and the precise wording."

        It would help if reporters given the results of such surveys insisted on getting and publishing not only the precise wording of the question but also of the entire survey - previous questions can influence this.

        "Congratulations, Bernard. You are a perfect balanced sample."

  2. RosslynDad

    Porcine Aviation

    Thanks for pointing out some new career options here. While joining this "think tank" sounds like fun (and they probably give out free crayons), I'm more interested in the Government Chief Data Officer position. In the absence of the BOFH this made for some fun reading. Thanks.

  3. gerryg

    here we go again, talking is so much more fun than doing anytthing.

    In 2012 the Open Source Consortium published a report and the Policy Exchange ran a seminar saying much the same thing about interoperability and open standards

    In 2002 Cabinet Office published research from Sapient with similar case studies.

    No doubt in 2024 we'll be reading yet another study.

  4. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Gimp

    TBH HMG might start proving it can be trusted with the data it demands from subjects.

    Except that's pretty f**king hard to prove when all the evidence is that they aren't.

    It's amazing just how many times, when given a chance to do the right thing (provide an audit trail data subjects can look at, require judicial oversight for data collection requests etc etc) they do the wrong thing

    IOW exactly how a data fetishist thinks.

    More data --> better data

    All data, all the time, forever --> best of all.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    When I see 'government IT' and 'open standards' in the same sentence, nay, same article, I am reminded of Andy Tanenbaum's famous quote:

    “The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.”

    The words 'monumental clusterfuck' also present themselves for consideration.

    (fetches popcorn)

  6. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "efforts have been hampered by a litany of ethical, legal and technical issues."

    I think you'll find only one of these categories is taken seriously.

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