ADR Wales news piece. Published 28th November.
Jo Maimaris is part of the ADR Wales team within the Welsh Government and is the Principal Analyst of the Welsh arm of the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) programme. Here, Jo describes the BOLD Innovation Showcase held earlier this month in London and led by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in conjunction with One Big Thing.
The Innovation Showcase brought together over 250 civil servants, charity leaders, academics and public servants into the Grand Hall of the De Vere rooms with the aim of inspiring and enthusing thought leaders about the world of data linking in government.
The BOLD Substance Misuse Wales team were proud to be a part of the day, hosting a session on the ongoing Welsh programme of work on substance misuse, including research on the intergenerational effects of substance use, the effectiveness of substance misuse treatment and the impact of criminal justice interventions.
The Welsh team also shared learnings from the unique perspective of the data linking landscape in Wales where, within the SAIL databank, justice data has been linked together with Welsh health, social care, education and population data for the first time.
A particular highlight of the day was the Innovation Thought Leaders panel with National Statistician Sir Ian Diamond as chair. Sir Ian praised the work of the BOLD programme as demonstrating the potential of linked data across government which, in his view, is the future.
Sir Ian was joined by Professor Helen Margetts OBE, Programme Director for Public Policy at the Alan Turing Institute, who reflected on the change of approach towards government data over the course of her career – from being in an unusable filing cabinet system to being digitalised and primed as a critical resource.
Also on the panel was Megan Lee Devlin, Director General of Service Transformation at MoJ, who spoke about how generative AI is the cherry on the (data) cake, working to draw everyone’s attention to the importance of having good (data) cake!
Finally, Ben Goldacre joined the panel to share insights from his work with Open Safely and the importance of getting data privacy right, particularly as concerns health data.
In a recorded address from Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the optimism of this moment shone through, with Sarah reminding the audience of the potential for data and evidence to inform the mission-led approach of the current government.
The showcase fostered a culture where attendees were encouraged to think boldly about the future of data linking within government. From session sharing learnings from the BOLD programme, to workshops demonstrating new operational dashboards and inventive activities including creating data linking paper chains, the event galvanised attendees to think innovatively about the potential for data in their fields.
After almost four years of the BOLD programme, it was rewarding to see so many individuals connecting over new ideas and starting fresh collaborations amongst peers.