LOTI has developed 15 recommendations for local government to develop their data ethics capabilities, building on a review of existing ethical principles from around the world.

‘Data ethics’ refers to how we collect, share and use data, and so goes beyond the legal obligations of local government, in particular as defined in the GDPR.

Many of the recommendations are themselves new in local government. Therefore, LOTI proposes that interested organisations pilot recommendations to find out what works for them. In particular, we suggest one different recommendations from each section in our ‘Capability Model’: principles, resident engagement, governance & processes, and skills & culture.

The recommendations are currently open for comment as we develop them with experts and key stakeholders. If you have any questions, please email Jay Saggar and Sam Nutt and for more information.

To create these recommendations, LOTI conducted a review of existing practices, including in examples written up as case studies, as well as a review of existing values-based principles for data ethics. The research on these value-based principles has been written up into a Guidance on Data Ethics Principles. Each LOTI recomendation is informed by the most important and universal value-based principles that emerged from the research (namely: transparency, accountability, privacy, safety, and public purpose).