Corporate report

UKHSA Advisory Board: data strategy update

Updated 22 May 2023

Date: 23 May 2023

Sponsor: Steven Riley

Presenter: Matt Thompson

Purpose of the paper

The purpose of the paper is to receive comment on the UKHSA data strategy which has the ultimate objective of unifying our approach to data across all UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) groups and enable us to better prepare, build, and respond to health threats.

This paper and its annexe are intended to provide a detailed structure and implementation plan of the data strategy.

Recommendation

The Advisory Board is asked to comment on the approach to the data strategy laid out in the data strategy prose.

The Advisory Board is asked to note that the Executive Committee (ExCo) and other relevant boards will consider the data strategy when making investment, policy, and service delivery decisions.

Background

The data strategy has been developed to enable UKHSA to better manage, access, analyse, and act on its data and insights. ExCo and key governance boards, such as the DDaT (D&T) Assurance Board, will consider the data strategy when making investment, policy, and service delivery decisions. 

Numerous benefits can be realised through the data strategy, including faster operations, more efficient resource allocation, reductions in cost, fewer gaps in our data and ultimately increased confidence in our decision-making.

The data strategy approach works well given the current position of UKHSA. We need to understand our level of maturity before we make decisions. To ensure that we invest in the right changes at the right time. Data Maturity Assessments are sensible way to move this forward. Assessments will be conducted to the new cross-government standard; see Section 6 for more detail.

The data strategy sets the direction that will enable UKHSA to identify priorities, set appropriate actions to improve our data, and lay the foundations that will ensure our data capabilities effectively underpin the work of the agency. It does not set out a roadmap of concrete actions but commits to a method by which we will identify the appropriate actions to take.

The data strategy, its principles and assessment of group data maturity should be used to aid investment, service, and policy delivery decisions and ultimately align Groups around a unified approach to data so that we can better prepare for, prevent, and respond to threats to health.

With active support from groups, implementation of the data strategy will drive a change in UKHSA’s data culture and reap health security benefits of improved data capabilities through a unified approach to data.

Developing our data culture and data capabilities will directly support the full breadth of scientific research conducted throughout UKHSA through better managed and more readily accessible and interoperable data.

Consultation process

Throughout development, the data strategy team has engaged with relevant teams across the Agency and beyond through bilateral meetings, board papers, and so on to ensure alignment and support.

The data strategy was endorsed by the UKHSA Executive Committee in September 2022, and has been presented to the UKHSA Advisory Board, the Data Science Advisory Board and the Health Equity Board. It has been positively received as a result of extensive work to align existing Strategies, including the UKHSA 3-year Strategic Plan, the Science Strategy and the Health Equity Strategy, as well as Group objectives. Engagement with external partners such as NHS, DHSC, and Cabinet Office’s Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) has been undertaken to ensure alignment with wider government and the healthcare sector.

We will continue to engage across UKHSA to align existing strategies, including the UKHSA corporate strategy, as well as group objectives. We are also continually engaging with external communities, including our partners in HMG, industry, and academia, to build a leading Data Strategy for UKHSA.

Establishing data principles

The UKHSA data strategy seeks to establish – for the first time – agency-wide data principles: Responsible, Accessible, Trustworthy, Efficient, and Innovative.

These principles will underpin all aspects of our work as we collect, analyse, and share critical health data to advance public health outcomes.

Embedding of these principles will be supported with an ongoing communications campaign, and development of tools to support engagement and adoption.

Government data maturity assessment

We first need to understand our level of maturity before making decisions and specific investment decisions.

The government data maturity assessment was developed by the Government Data Quality Hub, based in the Office for National Statistics, through cross-government engagement and collaboration and has now been published by the CDDO. It is anticipated this model will eventually be used to support and assess all government departments’ data capabilities. As an early adopter, UKHSA is working closely with CDDO to embed this.

This will involve working with the numerous people across the agency who have knowledge on a wide range of data topics, including having the right data systems and knowing the data we have, making decisions with data, managing and protecting our data, and taking responsibility for data.

The approach used to assess will be a mix of expert contributions answering on behalf of teams, workshops with representatives across the agency, and surveys to get the view of wider staff. It is important that we also include people who do not consider themselves to be ‘data people’ to ensure the results are reflective of the whole agency.

The result of this self-assessment process will be personalised, directorate-level maturity reports, outlining the level of maturity across the data capabilities as well as recommended actions to achieve improvements where needed.

Reporting to the Advisory Board on data maturity assessments will be consolidated into a high-level overview. The cadence of reporting will be biannual, as detailed in the strategy governance section of the data strategy.

Evaluation

The maturity levels we will be using for data maturity are:

1. Beginning
2. Emerging
3. Learning
4. Developing
5. Mastering

We will evaluate the maturation of data capabilities based on directorates’ progress towards their maturity targets over time.

Other evaluation metrics are in development to demonstrate adoption of the data strategy’s five data principles described above.

Implementation update

Expanding on the core strategy previously presented to the Advisory Board and Executive Committee, a ~15-page prose version is now being finalised for publication in 2023. We are seeking input from this Board, strategy leads and colleagues across UKHSA as the prose is finalised.

A skeleton communications plan has been drafted in consultation with Data Analytics and Surveillance internal comms. This considers the messages, audiences, mediums, and pace. Specific milestones will depend on confirmation of publication timeline.

Data maturity assessments have begun with pilots in the Health Equity and Clinical Governance directorate and the Regions directorate.

Early findings indicate opportunities for further improvements in making data easier to find, access, and share. There is room for streamlining systems and processes and introducing more automation in data processing.

Findings indicate that some actions to improve data maturity will be implemented at a directorate level, and some will require coordination at Group or Agency level. These wider opportunities to improve our data practices will become clearer as the assessments continue.

Next steps

We anticipate publication of the data strategy in Q3 of 2023 to 2024. This will be published externally.

Pilot of data maturity assessments is currently under way. The assessments will then be rolled out across the agency later this year.

Content for communications and staff engagement pieces are being drafted and will launch at appropriate times.

Matt Thompson
Head of Data Strategy
May 2023