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FINAL WORD
Achieving the
right balance
between insight
and data privacy
Data standards have increased
dramatically over the past year thanks
to the introduction of the General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) and
it’s important that citizens can trust
those responsible for their data. Mark
Humphries, Managing Consultant for
Civica Digital, explores the importance of
data structure and governance for insight-
driven councils and public bodies.
I
n recent months, there have been several stories of councils
developing predictive algorithms to identify families where
children may be at risk from abuse or gang exploitation.
According to research by The Guardian, algorithms have been
developed via data from at least three separate agencies: school
attendance and exclusion data, housing association repairs and
arrears data, and police records on antisocial behaviour and
domestic violence.
Such insight from data analysis is invaluable to councils. Supporting
vulnerable families is arguably the most important task that councils
can provide and for many councils, the combined budgets for adult
and child care account for more than half of their total spend.
Early intervention has the potential to both improve outcomes by
preventing difficult situations spiralling out of control and to reduce
long-term costs.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
www.intelligentcio.com