In the spirit of transparency and to support shared learning across local government, LOTI recommends that councils publish any assessments or evaluations of data projects so that other boroughs can see how they have evaluated and mitigated certain risks.
This might include impact assessments, such as the Data Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA), Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) or Algorithmic Impact Assessment (AIA).
We are in the process of learning, as a sector and as a data ethics discipline as a whole, what good and best practice looks like, such as which tools work well and in what context. To develop maturity in this regard will therefore require testing new practices and sharing our learnings as a sector.
Whilst councils might initially have to publish their impact assessments on their own websites, LOTI proposes developing a central platform for London that could house these documents. As part of LOTI’s offering for London boroughs through the London Data Ethics Service, we commit to publishing and sharing all of our own evaluations and advice.
In particular, LOTI encourages local authorities to share (in appropriate fora) where they have made mistakes or realise where they could have done better. Whilst it feels harder to share them, because admitting error feels like it will harm public trust, in the long run, sharing all learning will help us develop better common standards and approaches that will in turn enhance trust in government.
The UK Algorithmic Transparency Standard plans to publish impact assessments as part of a proposed transparency register, initially on this webpage. LOTI is engaging with the CDEI and CDDO team to ensure the next stage of this Standard will work for local authorities.
