Local government reorganisation: Data sharing principles and checklist

The LGR invitation letter from the Minister for Local Government was clear that all local leaders should work collaboratively and proactively, including by sharing information, to develop robust and sustainable unitary proposals. Local engagement and collaboration is one of the key criteria set out in the letter.

This document outlines the principles and key points to consider when data is being shared between councils as part of the Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) business case process. It is designed to help councils approach data sharing in an efficient way, whilst managing risk. It will help all councils play a full part in developing unitary proposals with access to the information necessary to produce robust bids supported by evidence. It will also increase the likelihood of a single, agreed proposal being submitted for the county area.

This document has been developed by the Local Government Association, following discussions with the County Councils Network and District Councils’ Network.

Sharing data with other councils to inform the development of LGR business cases is achievable and should be encouraged. We understand that the context and relationships between organisations will vary across the country, but sharing data is an important means of building evidence-based proposals that are well informed, realistic, and robust.

There is often understandable nervousness about sharing data, for example due to concerns around data protection legislation. However, when used properly, data protection processes are an enabler for fair and proportionate data sharing rather than a blocker. They provide a helpful framework to make the right decisions about sharing data.

The level of scrutiny you need to apply differs significantly by type of data, ranging from published data that is already freely available through to sensitive business data. Personal data requires more significant attention to ensure compliance with data protection legislation. You may not need to share personal data to build your business case.

Much of the data you need may already be in the public domain and therefore very low risk. Talk to the data experts in your organisation to find out what you already have access to.

LG Inform – the free to access local area benchmarking tool from the LGA – has a huge wealth of published data at council level. Further, if your council subscribes to LG Inform Plus, you will have access to data at lower geographies such as ward and lower super output area (LSOA).

If the data you need is not publicly available, you may already have a data sharing agreement set up with other councils for that data. Again, talk with the data experts in your organisation to scope what is already available.

If the data you need is only available from another organisation without an existing agreement, then you will need to consider the steps below.

If you conclude that you need to share data across organisations, you should consider the following:

• Good communication is key to the success of data sharing initiatives. Consider setting up a dedicated forum for coordinating data requests across the area. Be very clear of what question you want to answer, to allow data teams to prepare meaningful data and reports.
• Consider the type and quantity of data you need to share. Financial data relating to the council’s operations will have different requirements than that relating to individuals. The data you share should only be that which is required to do the task.
• Agree data standards. If several organisations are going to be sharing the same data, agreeing simple points such as common labelling and layout in advance will make the process of compiling the shared dataset much smoother and reduce the risk of errors.
• Encourage openness about data quality. Most councils struggle to some extent with data quality issues, which can cause some reluctance to share this data with others. This should not be a barrier to sharing data, so long as the caveats are clearly communicated.
• Consider how and where the data is going to be shared and stored. Data should be stored in a secure location. It should also be sent in a secure way. The level of security required will depend on the type of data and should be agreed between those sharing it. It could, for example, be appropriate to use existing solutions such as MS Teams or Sharepoint with the correct security settings in place.
• Consider how long the data is required for. It may not be appropriate for all parties to retain copies of the data in the long term, and agreement should be made as to when, and how it will be removed securely.

It is good practice to complete a Data Sharing Agreement whenever any data that is not already in the public domain is being shared. You should also agree whether to complete a Data Protection Impact Assessment if personal data is involved. These processes will give you confidence that you have a robust process and within it enable you to agree issues such as:

• how long the data will be kept for
• the purposes it can be used for
• who can access the data[1]
• any legal requirements relating to the data.

Where the data is personal or sensitive organisational data, you should always take particular care and seek specialist advice. For example, if you are sharing personal data, you would need a lawful basis to do so.

When considering data sharing, it will be important to talk internally to your own professional experts – particularly your Data Protection Officer, as well as the information governance, legal and data teams. You should involve your IT/information security professionals to ensure that data is stored and transferred securely.

There is also an active information governance group on Knowledge Hub, which is a free online platform used extensively by the LGA to allow groups of officers from across local government to come together to ask questions and share advice and good practice.

The SAVVI project has produced a helpful guide to the information governance process when sharing personal data.