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The Central Digital and Data Office has entered into a commercial engagement to develop a framework to identify the most pressing data concerns – before fixing at least half of them

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Government has kicked off a project intended to help identify and solve departments’ most pressing issues related to “data quality”.

Published in 2022 and due to complete delivery by March of next year, the cross-government three-year digital and data roadmap set out six core missions, the third of which aims to enable “better data to power decision making”.

Within this mission are four individual commitments, including a pledge to create a framework through which to identify all data-quality issues considered to be “high priority” – and to resolve at least half of these by the start of the 25/26 year.

On 8 July, the Central Digital and Data Office – which is overseeing the rollout of the roadmap – entered into a 12-week commercial agreement with Civica to support the creation of this assessment model, as part of a wider programme of work to evaluate the current quality of data and APIs throughout government.

Between now and the end of September, the tech supplier will support CDDO in creating “a framework to enable identification of ‘high-priority’ data-quality issues”, according to the text of the contract. The tool is intended to support departments to independently assess their data landscape against a set of common criteria and metrics.

The contract says: “The framework to enable departments to identify ‘high priority’ data quality issues should: provide a mechanism to ensure that ‘high priority’ is interpreted in a consistent way; enable departments to identify ‘high priority’ data quality issues from the perspective of the primary use of the data; include recommendations for potential technical implementation, including options for use of tooling products.”

The framework – and supporting “guidance and training” to enable its implementation – should “be tested with users throughout the development process… [and then] engage and act on [their] feedback”.

As an optional extra, CDDO may also use the engagement to fulfil a “proof-of-concept project testing implementation in a government department”.

The contract also covers the delivery of a review of existing guidelines and support for departments seeking to create a “data quality action plan”. CDDO also wishes to develop further guidance resources to help agencies in developing and implementing such plans under their own steam.

The document adds: “The review of existing guidance deliverable should be a report that includes: a landscape review of existing materials and their scope, this can also optionally include best practice from across the private sector; an evaluation of stand-alone usability; recommendations for development of additional materials to support departments with independent implementation.”

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Where gaps are identified in current guidelines, CDDO wishes to “complement existing materials to ensure a complete package of implementation support”.

In fulfilling the objectives set out by the government digital unit, the supplier will be asked to “set up and provide access to a cross-government data quality working group, [and] there is an expectation that the supplier will source further contacts from within departments themselves for the purpose of gathering information for the project, and will also capture information from across all of government”.

The review of current data quality guidance is expected to be completed by the end of the fourth week of the contract, with the necessary updates finalised by the eighth week. The framework for identifying high-priority data issues is slated for delivery in week nine.

The deal, which can be extended for a further three months at CDDO’s discretion, will be worth about £200,000 during its initial 12-week term. The contract was awarded via lot three of the G-Cloud 13 framework.

PublicTechnology had contacted the Cabinet Office – which remains the home of CDDO, although the unit is soon to move to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – but the department was yet to provide any comment at time of going to press.

In her first public appearance as CDDO’s new chief strategy officer, Gina Gill recently told the PublicTechnology Live annual conference that data and system reform are the two missions that require the most attention in the final months of work on implementing the digital roadmap.

While acknowledging that some progress has been made in data-sharing, some key barriers remain, including “legislative challenges, which we can look at – but also partly cultural challenges and [concerns about] who owns the data, and what is the risk of using it” – particularly to support the delivery of more proactive services, according to Gill.

“I think that we need to be giving people choice at the point that they’re using a service,” she said. “I think that is when people will choose to make their lives easier and say: ‘yes, you can go and pull that data together to tell me whether I’m eligible for this thing, or how much tax I owe’… I think that we need to think differently about how we offer users choice at the point that they are receiving a service – and we do have some really good examples of that, in parts.”