Three-year project creates foundation for improved and expanded data sharing
A cluster of over 20 government departments and agencies in the education sector have established a landmark framework for sharing data between their organisations and potentially the wider public sector.
The Department for Education and Skills initiated the project back in 2002 in a bid to standardise the way that public bodies exchange management information about students and learning providers.
Its research found examples where attempts at 'joined-up working' had fallen foul of the legal minefield of data sharing or led to inconsistent practice.
Due to staff attrition, reorganisations and the absence of formal arrangements, some data sharing activities between partner organisations had been effectively "severed", the final project report said.
For example, Jobcentre Plus was at one point informally providing data about providers to the Adult Learning Inspectorate, but somehow contacts between them were lost and the data sharing stopped.
Other organisations, such as the Association of Colleges, were unwilling to pass on information without a proper framework in place.
The new data sharing framework document, made public on 22 June, now provides a set of guidance and principles relating to how the 20-plus participating organisations will share data.
Members include the Department for Work and Pensions, Becta, OfSTED, the Learning and Skills Council, Ufi and the DfES itself.
It is hoped that formalising the arrangements will also help to enable data to be sent in a more timely way, which the project highlighted had been an ongoing "cause of aggravation" between some agencies.
However in some areas, the legal complexities surrounding data sharing continue to pose a barrier to data sharing.
Jobcentre Plus finds it "impossible" to share any data that it has gathered because the legislation governing the data collection has been built to be "one way", the project explains.
The project is working with the Lord Chancellor's Department to investigate the creation of 'legal gateways' so that agencies can have access to data for specific purposes. The creation of these gateways is likely to be a "prolonged process", it acknowledges.
Its framework coincides with a new report from the Higher Education Regulation Review Group, a DfES body, which estimates that better co-ordination of inspection and data collection could save higher education at least £15 million annually.
Related Links
Managing Information Across Partners: Data Sharing Framework (Word Document: 339KB)
Data Sharing Project: Findings and Recommendations (Word Document: 530KB)
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