An ongoing consultation seeks to close a gap in government’s knowledge by seeking input from local authorities and others on current uses of new tech, barriers faced, and ethical considerations

The government is seeking to better understand how artificial intelligence and other digital technologies are being used in the delivery of social care services for children.

In a newly launched consultation exercise, the Department for Education indicates that it wishes to gather more intelligence about an area where its knowledge is currently lacking.

“We are running a call for evidence with the aim of better understanding the use of AI and digital technology in the delivery of children’s social care provision by local authorities,” the DfE says, in the accompanying consultation documents. “We currently have limited information on how AI and digital technologies are being used in practice. To help central government understand how to better support this work, we want to learn how and where these tools are being used, what impact they are having, and the barriers local authorities face in implementing new technologies.”

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The documents add that government defines AI as a technological system that “infers from the input it receives how to generate outputs – such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions”. Digital technologies, meanwhile, is used to refer to “technologies available to social workers beyond the core case-management system [which] could include storyteller apps, [and] child/families’ voice capturing tools”.

As well as representatives from councils, government is also inviting other “organisations providing frontline children’s social care services” to take part in the feedback-gathering exercise.

Participants are asked to respond to a variety of questions, relating to whether government entities and other care providers are currently using either commercial tools or those developed in house.

The consultation also covers issues such as “how local authorities… are approaching managing the risks and ethics associated with implementing AI tools”, as well as “challenges and barriers… [faced] in implementing AI in support of frontline practice, and how these barriers have been overcome”.

The questionnaire concludes with an enquiry on the extent to which organisations currently use ‘single-view’ systems which “bring together data on an individual from a number of sources/services”.

Those wishing to take part in the exercise have until 1 May to do so.