Invest in Data Infrastructure That Will Result in Better Open Data (IE0045)

To ensure the success of the Open Data Strategy it is essential that we invest in data infrastructure, such as systems, people, standards, unique identifiers, and processes to produce accurate, timely and linkable Open Data sets on topics citizens want to see. Objective: Strengthen the quality and quantity of potential Open Data sets by investing in data systems, people, standards, unique identifiers and processes. Status quo: There is much room to improve data infrastructure across the public sector. While some bodies have world class systems for their own purposes, other systems are aged, having suffered from a lack of new investment since the on-set of the recession. With a few notable exceptions, systems are generally not built to effectively share data or easily produce Open Data sets to the highest standards. Ambition: The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) will work with DSP, Revenue, DJEI, CSO and other stakeholders to develop the concept of a National Data Infrastructure, including the initiation of pathfinder projects that will demonstrate the value of linking data from multiple sources. One of the objectives of this work will be to facilitate better sharing and a stronger analytics capability through the use of individual, business and location identifiers. Aligned with this, Data Sharing and Governance legislation will be enacted. The central aim will be to ensure an integrated / cohesive approach in terms of information flows between and within public organisations while ensuring best practice in regard to privacy, security and data protection. The OGCIO, supported by the ICT Advisory Board and Heads of Civil Service HR and PAS, will work with Human Resources staff to develop an ICT Human Resource Strategy. By aligning with the wider Civil Service HR Strategy and industry best practice, this strategy should result in better quality data infrastructure, and ultimately, more and better quality open data. The OGCIO will build on existing relationships and practice sharing with the most advanced data-enabled EU countries (specifically the Nordics and the Netherlands), taking advice as appropriate, to define the gap between Ireland and EU exemplars and identify strategies to make up the ground. In doing so, Ireland will seek to maximise our innovative use of data and our readiness for the European Single Market, and confirm that our operational, policy and legislative plans will establish Ireland as an eGovernment leader while maintaining compliance with Data Protection requirements. Lead implementing organisations: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. 35 Timeline: January 2017 to June 2018.
Commitment 12: Invest in Data Infrastructure that will result in better Open Data. OGP values: Access to information. New or ongoing commitment :New. Lead implementation organisations: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Other actors involved - government All government bodies Verifiable and measurable milestones to fulfil the commitment New or ongoing Start date End date The OGCIO will work with DSP, Revenue, DJEI, CSO and other stakeholders to develop the concept of a National Data Infrastructure, including the initiation of pathfinder projects that will demonstrate the value of linking data from multiple sources New Jan 2017 June 2017 D/PER will work with Parliamentary Counsel to complete the drafting of the Data Sharing and Governance Bill and progress it through the Oireachtas to enactment. New Jan 2017 June 2017 The OGCIO, supported by the ICT Advisory Board and Heads of Civil Service HR and PAS, will work with Human Resources staff to develop an ICT Human Resource Strategy. New Jan 2017 June 2017 The OGCIO will build on existing relationships and practice sharing with the most advanced dataenabled EU countries (specifically the Nordics and the Netherlands), taking advice as appropriate, to define the gap between Ireland and EU exemplars and identify strategies to make up the ground. New Jan 2017 June 2017.

12. Invest in Data Infrastructure that will result in better Open Data

Commitment Text:

Objective: Strengthen the quality and quantity of potential Open Data sets by investing in data systems, people, standards, unique identifiers and processes.

Milestones

12.1. The OGCIO will work with DSP, Revenue, DJEI, CSO and other stakeholders to develop the concept of a National Data Infrastructure, including the initiation of pathfinder projects that will demonstrate the value of linking data from multiple sources

12.2. D/PER will work with Parliamentary Counsel to complete the drafting of the Data Sharing and Governance Bill and progress it through the Oireachtas to enactment.

12.3. The OGCIO, supported by the ICT Advisory Board and Heads of Civil Service HR and PAS, will work with Human Resources staff to develop an ICT Human Resource Strategy.

12.4. The OGCIO will build on existing relationships and practice sharing with the most advanced data-enabled EU countries (specifically the Nordics and the Netherlands), taking advice as appropriate, to define the gap between Ireland and EU exemplars and identify strategies to make up the ground.

Responsible institution: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Supporting institutions: All Government bodies

Start date: January 2017

End date: June 2018

Editorial Note: The text of the commitment was abridged for formatting reasons. For full commitment text, visit: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Ireland_NAP_2016-2018.pdf.

Context and Objectives

Ireland’s first action plan included a commitment (under Actions 1.1-1.3) to develop open datasets to be housed in the newly developed portal, data.gov.ie. The IRM end of term report found that, by the end of 2016, there was substantial development of such datasets prior to the action plan, with the portal housing 4,887 datasets from 97 publishers, grouped in ten themes such as health, environment, transport, housing and zoning, and others.[Note: See the Ireland End-of-Term Report 2014-2016, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/ireland-end-of-term-report-2014-2016, pg. 15.] This commitment seeks to strengthen the quality and quantity of potential open data by developing the concept of a National Data Infrastructure, drafting relevant legislation, developing an ICT HR strategy, and sharing ‘best practices’ on the theme with the leading open data EU member states.

The commitment includes actions that will make data more available, namely the development of a National Data Infrastructure and the Data Sharing and Governance Bill, thus making it relevant to the OGP value of access to information. The milestones include actions that are verifiable and measurable (the National Data Infrastructure, the Data Sharing and Governance Bill, and the ICT HR Strategy), though Milestone 12.4 on building relationships with other EU member states on open data is slightly vague. Overall, the specificity is marked as high. If fully implemented, the different initiatives could improve the quality and quantity of potential datasets depending on the investment taken. However, it is not apparent how it will change ‘business as usual,’ so the potential impact is marked as moderate. In other words, it is not transformative because successive actions, as well as Ireland’s future relationships with other EU states on this issue, remain unclear.

Completion

The overall progress in the first year of implementation is substantial and on schedule. The government states that its progress on the milestones includes the following:

Milestone 12.1: Substantial progress has been made in developing the concept of a National Data Infrastructure, including a roll out of the SAFE 2 registration (related to the PSC and MyGovID). This ensures that data related to citizens is associated with the person securely as well as using Eircodes (newly developed postal codes in Ireland) when gathering data during the provision of public services.

Milestone 12.2: The General Scheme (i.e. main headings/aspects) of the Data Sharing and Governance Bill has been completed: in May 2017, the Joint Committee on Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform undertook requisite pre-legislative scrutiny.[Note: ‘Opening Statement,’ Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure & Reform, and Taoiseach Draft General Scheme of the Data Sharing & Governance Bill,’ 18 May 2017, https://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/media/committees/finance/2017/DPER-Opening-Statement-PLS-Data-Sharing.pdf. ]

Milestone 12.3: In year one, the government reported that a sub-group of the ICT Advisory Board is working on an ICT HR Strategy in the civil service in line with the Civil Service Renewal Programme.

Milestone 12.4: Regarding policy learning from other EU member states, the government participated in a July 2017 conference, along with representation from Denmark, Estonia, and Luxembourg, that examined the benefits of a well-functioning data ecosystems.

However, it should be noted that stakeholders were not consulted during the last year and have therefore not been involved in the implementation of the commitment. This is evidenced by comments from an interview with one civil society leader working on open data who stated that ‘there has not been public consultation on this,’ or on comments made in the IRM public stakeholder meeting.[Note: Interview with open data expert, October 2017. Stakeholder meeting as discussed in Section 1.]

Early Results

There is some evidence that the investment in data infrastructure has improved the quality of open data and the data is being used by the public. Considering that there were 4,887 datasets from 97 publishers, grouped in ten themes at the end of 2016, by the end of 2017 there were 5,486 datasets from 99 publishers on 14 themes. A member of civil society who is a leading expert interviewed for this report confirms that ‘there is new, more detailed, better data on the portal, that is more frequently updated.’[Note: Interview with open data expert, October 2017.]

Next Steps

Given the strong progress so far, this commitment is likely to be completed and does not need to be carried forward to the next action plan.

For commitment details, see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Ireland_End-Term_...