How to Build Data Capacity and Culture in Local Government
Bonnie Buyuklieva, Jeremy Williams, Selin Zileli, Maria Wood, Martin Gozzi, Veronica-Nicholle Hera and Thomas Murat
Local and combined authorities across the UK often face challenges using data to inform good policymaking. At the same time, national governments can also struggle to compare disparate and sometimes isolated data collected at the local level.
This report addresses these two separate but interconnected problems. It aims to help all layers of government use data more effectively to inform better decision-making – with the ultimate aim of leading to better outcomes.
The report is that of a project in which the International Public Policy Observatory and UCL’s Department of Information Studies partnered with five local and combined authorities across the UK. Consulting with what is now the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and key players like ONS Local, we embedded Data-for-Policy Fellows in each partner authority.
Our Data-for-Policy Fellows each worked on an individual local data project and gained first-hand experience of the issues, challenges, and opportunities for instituting data-informed policymaking. Each of these partnerships forms a case study, with the findings for each set out across in the five chapters which form the main body of this report.
In addition to our work with partners on the ground, we also worked together to produce insights and scalable policy recommendations which could be applied more generally to improve local data capacity, capability, and comparability.
While each authority and project are different, there are four clear common themes which emerge across the work.
Firstly, data sharing and standardisation ensures that authorities can access and utilise consistent, high-quality data, enabling better coordination across regions. Secondly, developing strong data governance and policy frameworks means data is used ethically, securely, and efficiently in decision-making processes.
At the same time, investing in training and data literacy empowers local teams to confidently interpret and apply data to policy work. Finally, through integrating data into holistic development and community engagement, authorities can involve communities in shaping policies that address specific regional needs, reduce inequalities, and improve public services.
We believe that a comprehensive approach addressing and integrating all of the above will be crucial for driving more effective, data-driven local governance.
To help achieve this, we set out key findings under each theme, together with corresponding policy steers and recommendations, applicable to the national governments of the UK and/or to local and combined authorities. It is also our intention that those steers directed at the sub-national level are scalable and thus useful to any local or combined authority in the UK.
Our topline steer to the UK government and three national governments is to:
- Develop a centralised data repository, using the UK Government’s Digital Information and Smart Data Bill to set one up. This should hold key datasets from local authorities, central government, and other key partners including the Central Digital & Data Office (CDDO) and ONS.
For local and regional governments, our topline steer is to:
- Agree simple and streamlined data-sharing agreements by using powers granted under Part 5 of the Digital Economy Act 2017. This allows agreements across stakeholders to facilitate collaboration and transparency.
We also urge all layers of government to develop and nurture a culture of transparency and collaboration, underpinned by a strong data governance system.
These steers are expanded on in the full table of key findings and policy recommendations set out from page 6 if our report.
We believe that in implementing these recommendations, the UK government, the three national governments, and regional combined and local authorities will have the best chance of harnessing the power of local data for more responsive and better policymaking.
Download the full report here