LOTI: Weeknote 29
Innovating responsibly with data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
On Friday, we spent the day in Brent to hold the first in our series of three workshops looking at ‘Innovating Responsibly with Data and Artificial Intelligence’.
The workshop was well attended by officers from London boroughs, as well as private sector suppliers and other public sector bodies such as the Metropolitan Police.
In this first workshop, our objective was to explore existing tools and guidance for how data and AI can be used responsibly in public sector organisations. The tools and guidance we explored were:
- UK Statistics Authority’s Data Ethics Self Assessment presented by Paul Hodgson, Greater London Authority (GLA).
- Data Ethics Canvas presented by Violeta Mezeklieva, Open Data Institute (ODI).
- Understanding Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Safety presented by David Leslie, Alan Turing Institute.
- AI Impact Assessment Canvas presented by Adriano Koshiyama, University College London (UCL).
- Nesta’s 10 Questions to answer before using AI in the public sector presented by Eddie Copeland, LOTI.
We wanted to understand which of these resources are most helpful to public sector officers, and spent time applying them to five scenarios, ranging from children’s safeguarding to predictive building maintenance in social housing. Our intention was to identify if the frameworks covered boroughs’ needs, and if not, how to address the gaps.
Participants pointed out that, to be effective, some of the tools would need to be integrated into other processes councils already follow, for example the completion of Data Privacy Impact Assessments (DPIAs). That was helpful feedback as LOTI will be working with CC2i and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority on a project to create a digital DPIA tool.
They noted that the tools needed to be used from the very earliest stages of a project, with multi-departmental involvement. The importance of being transparent to - and communicating effectively with - the public was also highlighted. The ODI’s Data Ethics Canvas was praised for its guidance on that front.
Our second workshop will look at how public sector organisations can embed these and other tools into their governance, training, policies, processes and public engagement activities. More details to follow soon!
Putting our AT framework to the test
We held a session with Assistive Technology (AT) leads from Kingston and Sutton, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Newham to test LOTI’s AT evaluation framework and guide. It was interesting to hear about their respective plans for deploying AT and they gave useful feedback on how we can improve the framework. A more polished version that incorporates their feedback will be published shortly.
Supporting Digital Apprentices
One of LOTI’s earliest and long-term projects is to support boroughs to boost their digital talent pool by recruiting 100 digital apprentices by September 2020.
In National Apprenticeships Week (#NAW2020), we publicised that our members have fulfilled a significant number of those pledges, with 69 apprentices currently working in digital and ICT roles in our boroughs.
Fulfilling those pledges is just half the challenge. It’s important we support our boroughs to not only attract but invest in and retain local talent. On that front, LOTI has been working with managers from across LOTI boroughs to develop a network that will support the career development and progression of Digital Apprentices.
An idea that was initially proposed during our first Managers’ network meeting was to organise off-site visits. We have branded these “Challenge Days”. These will give our Digital Apprentices the opportunity to meet one another outside the context of local government (for example during visits to major tech firms), allowing them to broaden their professional network, develop their soft skills, and deepen their understanding of the sector.
We’re actively looking for organisations interested in hosting our Digital Apprentices for a day (or half) of inspiration, education and networking. Please get in touch with Onyeka if you’d like to get involved.
This Week
Coming up this week, we’ll be:
- Preparing for our first data collaboration workshop with officers responsible for providing Special Educational Needs transportation in London boroughs.
- Meeting with Paul Maltby, CDO at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to discuss opportunities for collaboration.
- Meeting with Paul Hodgson, City Data Manager at the GLA to discuss digital planning and our pipeline of data collaboration projects.
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