Government data sharing plans heading for failure

Experts demand shake-up of public sector secrecy culture

The government will miss its targets for better information sharing in the public sector unless public bodies can radically overhaul how they work together, experts have warned.

Over the past few years, the government has launched a number of initiatives to promote data sharing between public organisations including the NHS, Whitehall departments and police services.

The government’s determination to overhaul information management was strengthened after a series of scandals, including the Victoria Climbié and Soham murders, which occurred after warning signs were missed because police forces and education and social services did not share information.

A Cabinet Office white paper in November last year, for example, concluded that the use of technology and communications “to deliver services designed around the needs of citizens and businesses can make a real difference to people’s lives”.

But think-tanks and information management firms said much more needed to be done if such aims were to become a reality. Social policy think-tank the Social Market Foundation said public bodies had to stop hiding behind the Data Protection Act.

“It’s too often used as an excuse not to share information, which it needn’t be,” said Social Market Foundation researcher Alexander Isaac. He also recommended an overhaul of the law covering the actions of government departments, which he said hindered efforts at information sharing.

But Isaac stressed that sharing should only be authorised where there were clear benefits to the public.

The Social Market Foundation said there were more dangers associated with too little sharing of information than too much. It cited the death of more than 1,000 people a year because information about drug allergies was not shared within the NHS.

Angela Abell, director of information management company TFPL , told IWR that the development of a common framework for information sharing within the public sector was essential.

“Too often, information management and governance have been neglected because projects focus too much on hugely expensive technology,” she said. “Technology is one thing but unless you focus on the architecture that allows people to use it, effectively it is worthless.”

Abell said that parts of the £6.2bn project to upgrade NHS computer systems were several years behind and did little to inspire confidence, and that information professionals should be involved early on to ensure that data sharing rules and processes were clear and workable.