Cabinet Office takes over control of UK government data: Mundane machinery or Machiavellian manoeuvrings?
(2020/07/24)
- Reference: 1595604311
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/07/24/cabinet_office_ukgov_data/
- Source link:
The UK Cabinet Office is to take control of government data from the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport.
In ordinary times this may be seen as unremarkable, but these are far from ordinary times.
A [1]written statement from Prime Minister Boris Johnson under the heading "Machinery of Government", dated 22 July, reads: "Responsibility for government use of data has transferred from the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to the Cabinet Office.
"DCMS will retain responsibility for data policy for the economy and society. This change will help ensure that government data is used most effectively to drive policy making and service delivery. The change is effective immediately."
Suspicion around the change – notably from the likes of The Guardian's Cambridge Analytica journo [2]Carole Cadwalladr – arises from the fact that the Cabinet Office is home to the PM's chief advisor, Dominic Cummings. Cummings was campaign director of Vote Leave in the UK's referendum on EU membership, and successfully employed data science during this time, with some critics questioning the methods.
UK govt publishes contracts granting Amazon, Microsoft, Google and AI firms access to COVID-19 health data [3]READ MORE
Cummings, of course, had no involvement in the Cambridge Analytica story, but his interest in data science continues, as does the government's. [4]AI startup Faculty , which worked on Vote Leave, has been awarded at least seven government contracts worth almost £1m in the space of 18 months, [5]reportedly .
Cabinet Office minister Theodore Agnew had resisted calls to sell a £90,000 shareholding in the company amid claims of a conflict of interest, [6]the Guardian said .
Faculty has also been [7]awarded contracts for the NHS COVID-19 data store project, as we reported on The Register in June.
Meanwhile, DCMS's tenure as champions of government data had not been going swimmingly. Its head of public sector data, Stephen Lorimer, was [8]publicly forced to backtrack on whether the government was considering sharing health data between departments.
Although first denying the suggestions, evidence from the Public Service Delivery (PSD) Review Board discussion of the Digital Economy Act 2017 brought something of a clarification. Minutes from the board said: "A work programme… which would include recommendations for proactively supporting expansion and uptake of the powers… [which]… could include ideas for progressing the necessary work with NHSX [the NHS digital agency] and other stakeholders to bring health and adult social care bodies within the scope of the PSD and other Digital Economy Act powers".
UK COVID-19 contact-tracing app data may be kept for 'research' after crisis ends, MPs told [9]READ MORE
The backdrop of the discussion was that the government had been slow to get departments sharing data for the benefit of public services. Whether the Cabinet Office will be more effective in pursuing the mission, and whether that would be a good thing, are moot points.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: "This is about making sure that Government departments and the decisions they make are properly joined-up."
In a statement, the Cabinet Office said: "It will allow the Government to make the best use of data to deliver the best possible services for the people of the UK. It will enable cross-Government work to be carried out, ensuring data is managed ethically while providing clear accountability through one central government department."
It is understood a small team of civil servants will transfer from DCMS to the Cabinet Office's Government Digital Service. ®
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[1] https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2020-07-22/HCWS417/
[2] https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1286230634478829575
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/05/uk_government_publishes_covid_19_contracts/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/19/covid19_nhs_data_store_open_letter/
[5] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election
[6] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/04/vote-leave-ai-firm-wins-seven-government-contracts-in-18-months
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/05/uk_government_publishes_covid_19_contracts/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/09/uk_government_medical_data_sharing_plans/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/04/uk_covid_app_human_rights_parliament/
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In ordinary times this may be seen as unremarkable, but these are far from ordinary times.
A [1]written statement from Prime Minister Boris Johnson under the heading "Machinery of Government", dated 22 July, reads: "Responsibility for government use of data has transferred from the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to the Cabinet Office.
"DCMS will retain responsibility for data policy for the economy and society. This change will help ensure that government data is used most effectively to drive policy making and service delivery. The change is effective immediately."
Suspicion around the change – notably from the likes of The Guardian's Cambridge Analytica journo [2]Carole Cadwalladr – arises from the fact that the Cabinet Office is home to the PM's chief advisor, Dominic Cummings. Cummings was campaign director of Vote Leave in the UK's referendum on EU membership, and successfully employed data science during this time, with some critics questioning the methods.
UK govt publishes contracts granting Amazon, Microsoft, Google and AI firms access to COVID-19 health data [3]READ MORE
Cummings, of course, had no involvement in the Cambridge Analytica story, but his interest in data science continues, as does the government's. [4]AI startup Faculty , which worked on Vote Leave, has been awarded at least seven government contracts worth almost £1m in the space of 18 months, [5]reportedly .
Cabinet Office minister Theodore Agnew had resisted calls to sell a £90,000 shareholding in the company amid claims of a conflict of interest, [6]the Guardian said .
Faculty has also been [7]awarded contracts for the NHS COVID-19 data store project, as we reported on The Register in June.
Meanwhile, DCMS's tenure as champions of government data had not been going swimmingly. Its head of public sector data, Stephen Lorimer, was [8]publicly forced to backtrack on whether the government was considering sharing health data between departments.
Although first denying the suggestions, evidence from the Public Service Delivery (PSD) Review Board discussion of the Digital Economy Act 2017 brought something of a clarification. Minutes from the board said: "A work programme… which would include recommendations for proactively supporting expansion and uptake of the powers… [which]… could include ideas for progressing the necessary work with NHSX [the NHS digital agency] and other stakeholders to bring health and adult social care bodies within the scope of the PSD and other Digital Economy Act powers".
UK COVID-19 contact-tracing app data may be kept for 'research' after crisis ends, MPs told [9]READ MORE
The backdrop of the discussion was that the government had been slow to get departments sharing data for the benefit of public services. Whether the Cabinet Office will be more effective in pursuing the mission, and whether that would be a good thing, are moot points.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: "This is about making sure that Government departments and the decisions they make are properly joined-up."
In a statement, the Cabinet Office said: "It will allow the Government to make the best use of data to deliver the best possible services for the people of the UK. It will enable cross-Government work to be carried out, ensuring data is managed ethically while providing clear accountability through one central government department."
It is understood a small team of civil servants will transfer from DCMS to the Cabinet Office's Government Digital Service. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2020-07-22/HCWS417/
[2] https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1286230634478829575
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/05/uk_government_publishes_covid_19_contracts/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/19/covid19_nhs_data_store_open_letter/
[5] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election
[6] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/04/vote-leave-ai-firm-wins-seven-government-contracts-in-18-months
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/05/uk_government_publishes_covid_19_contracts/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/09/uk_government_medical_data_sharing_plans/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/04/uk_covid_app_human_rights_parliament/
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
With Dominic Cummings in charge ...
Anonymous Coward
... [1]what could possibly go wrong?
[1] https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Edn0Da5XsAIr4Tn.jpg
Re: With Dominic Cummings in charge ...
Fruit and Nutcase
I see that the Barnard Castle Eye Test™ revealed that DC needed new spectacles
You know you're in trouble..
Andy 73
..when Carole Cadwalladr is being sited as a news source. She is obsessed with conspiracy theories around the Referendum and the Tories.
Re: You know you're in trouble..
Charlie Clark
Never suspect a conspiracy when incompetence will do. That said, there was skullduggery involved in the referendum, just not really by the Tory Party which increasingly lost control of proceedings to non-parliamentary groups.
Re: You know you're in trouble..
Dan 55
Ah, you mean the journalist who investigated the Cambridge Analytica scandal and won the Pulitzer prize, amongst others?
Keep it out of parliamentary scrutiny
Charlie Clark
That's what you do when you give things to the Cabinet Office. It shouldn't be with the Deparment of Media, Culture and also Sport, but it should still fall under the normal rules of procurement, scrutiny, etc.
Re: Keep it out of parliamentary scrutiny
Dan 55
Normal rules of procurement, scrutiny, etc. are suspended due to the Covid legislation. [1]Stuff is already being farmed out to mates at an exorbitant cost and little in the way of results .
[1] https://goodlawproject.org/news/the-ppe-fiasco/
Breeding unicorns
Getting gov depts to share data has been a Whitehall wet dream for years and everytime someone tries it, it crashes and burns from the withering fire of "who controls what" guns (data, servers, security on servers, yada yada). And if a dept gives up its data, then who needs that dept anymore... Job cuts, JOB CUTS!! Civil servants are well versed in the dark arts of protectng their pensións, so cat in hell's chance even for sCummings.