The LGA and LOTI have unveiled a new set of guidelines designed to support authorities to buy and roll out AI while maintaining a commitment to data security and equality
Two local government organisations have created a procurement guide to help councils investing in artificial intelligence services to “feel confident to probe” suppliers and systems.
The Responsibly Buying AI guidance was unveiled this week by the Local Government Association and the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) – which counts the vast majority of London borough authorities as members.
The guidelines are intended to provide advice “for any AI-based technologies, algorithms or algorithmic systems that are procured or commissioned by a council, which can have a significant impact on citizens, or those which influence the creation or delivery of policies and services”.
The document covers both systems bought and owned by authorities, as well as those provided on an outsourced basis.
The guidance, published on the LGA’s website, contains a range of measures which councils can follow to ensure privacy and equality is not compromised, and that all relevant compliance requirements are complied with.
This will involve efforts to “properly question AI private sector companies on their products”, while also appreciating the potential “risks” to data protection or equality. Councils will also be supported to “build clauses in contracts to enable them to track the actual impact of an AI product or service”.
The document picks out four key areas where it can provide assistance, beginning with providing the means by which to “thoroughly assess the equality impact and data protection risks before starting but also throughout the procurement or commissioning process”.
By adhering to the guidelines, buyers should also “feel confident to probe AI-based technology providers on the equality and data protection relevant considerations they made when developing and testing their technology”.
This will involve work to “build equality and data protection requirements into the design of… tendering and contract arrangements so councils get the information they need to design a successful procurement process, adequately monitor the impacts of using the technology, and ensure contracts and contract monitoring processes allow them to maintain equitable, lawful and safe use”.
Finally, the advice document is hoped to help local government organisations to “understand that these considerations and assessments are not static and that due consideration for equalities and data protection risks must occur throughout the lifecycle of a contract and use of AI-based technologies”.
‘Practical support’
According to Victoria Blyth, LOTI’s information governance lead – one of the lead authors of the guidance – the publication “addresses the growing need for practical support in implementing responsible AI principles within council operations”.
“It’s written to support commissioners and project managers, procurement officers and contract owners, to help ensure that appropriate actions are taken throughout the procurement, implementation and ongoing use of AI-based technologies,” she said. “The guide also aims to help information governance and equalities officers to engage with these stakeholders. The underlying aim of all my work is to make the lives of information governance teams and data protection officers easier. In this case, by encouraging council officers to incorporate good information governance holistically through council procurement and contract operations.”
Cllr Abi Brown, chair of the LGA Improvement and Innovation Board, said that “the public sector equality duty and data protection law considerations are foundational to [the] safe and responsible deployment” of AI that many authorities are now embarking on.
“This guidance provides practical tools to help officers confidently address these issues,” she added. “By following this guidance, councils can navigate the complex AI landscape and deliver vital services responsibly and effectively for the communities they serve.”
You can hear more from LOTI’s director Eddie Copeland, who is appearing as a speaker at the PublicTechnology Live conference on Monday 12 May. The one-day event – which is free to attend for public-sector attendees and includes food, drink and a full agenda of CPD-certified content – will once again begin with the ‘perm secs panel’ of government’s top leaders discussing their role in digital transformation, and many more high-profile speakers throughout the day.
