UK government to prioritise wider sharing of public sector data

The UK government has accepted a proposal to prioritise the wider sharing and linkage of public sector data, including greater access for industry. This decision is signalled in the Spring Budget, announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt MP. The government is ready to accept the recommendations of Sir Patrick Vallance’s Pro-innovation Regulation of Technologies Review, which includes the need to improve the integration of public datasets to support services and facilitate greater industry access to public data. The review recommends that the government should run a competitive process to seek innovative, data-driven ideas from the industry to deliver the roadmap for digital and data. Additionally, the government should consider other privacy-enhancing technologies or data intermediaries to exchange data safely.