WIREDGOV

This week the editorial team highlights press releases, which provide readers with the opportunity to provide vital input for the future development of the ICT industry and its impact on society.

Firstly, a suite of consultations from government seeking to reframe how we manage & handle packaging in the future will have implications for the future management of waste.  The consultations which include a root & branch reform of the UK packaging producer responsibility system and a new plastic packaging tax, propose a major departure from the status quo. The deadline for responses is 12 May 2019.

techUK:  UK producer responsibility regime recast

No time to waste

Not everything has to be made of plastic & end up in the Ocean

Next the DCMS highlights that the World-first Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) will partner with the Cabinet Office’s Race Disparity Unit to explore potential for bias in crime & justice.  Algorithms have huge potential for preventing crime, protecting the public & improving the way services are delivered.  But decisions made in these areas are likely to have a significant impact on people’s lives and public trust is essential.

In crime & justice, algorithms could be used to assess the likelihood of re-offending and inform decisions about policing, probation and parole.  For example, some police forces have already started to use algorithms to feed into their decision-making - such as the Harm Assessment Risk Tool in Durham which is being used to assist officers in deciding whether an individual is eligible for deferred prosecution based on the future risk of offending.

The CDEI last week set out its priorities in its first Work Programme and Strategy.  This also includes plans for it to investigate how data is used to shape online experiences through personalisation and micro-targeting - for example where you search for a product and then adverts for similar products appear later in your browser.  This review will explore where, how and why online targeting approaches are used, and their impact on members of the public. The CDEI is launching a series of nationwide workshops to investigate public views on the acceptability of micro-targeting.

DCMS:  Investigation launched into potential for bias in algorithmic decision-making in society

techUK:  The CDEI launches its first Strategy & Work Programme

Keeping ‘control’ of AI & how will it be used?

Projects lay the groundwork for a future of robolawyers and flying cars

Lastly the ICO has published a call for participation; Building the ICO’s auditing framework for Artificial Intelligence.  In a Blog, Simon McDougall, Executive Director for Technology Policy & Innovation, invites comment from organisations on the development of an auditing framework for AI.

AI is one of the ICO’s top three strategic priorities and a new team is set to develop the ICO’s first auditing framework for AI. The framework will give us a solid methodology to audit AI applications and ensure we are transparent, fair; and to ensure that the necessary measures to assess & manage data protection risks arising from them are in place. 

The framework will also inform future guidance for organisations to support the continuous & innovative use of AI within the law. The guidance will complement existing resources, not least the ICO’s award winning Big Data and AI report.

But we don’t want to work alone. We’d like your input now.  We welcome your thoughts on the plans & approach we set out in this post. We will shortly publish another article here to outline the proposed framework structure, its key elements and focus areas.

On this new blog site you will be able to find regular updates on specific AI data protection challenges and on how our thinking in relation to the framework is developing. And we want your feedback. You can leave us a comment or email us direct.

CQC review of the first year of NHS trusts implementing the ‘Learning from Deaths’ national guidance.

In 2016, the CQC looked into how acute, community & mental health trusts investigate & learn from deaths.  This resulted in new national guidance.  Here we report on our assessments of how NHS trusts are putting it into practice.  We set out the findings of our original review in December 2016, when we published Learning, candour and accountability. 

Since September 2017, we have been assessing NHS trusts' implementation of national guidance on learning from deaths.  This forms part of our new well-led inspections. Now that we have completed most of these inspections, we are setting out what we have found.

Factors that enable good practice

Our findings suggest the factors that help trusts to put the guidance into practice are:

• values and behaviours that encourage engagement with families & carers
• clear and consistent leadership
• a positive, open and learning culture
• staff with resources, training and support
• positive working relationships with other organisations

The country’s leading landlord organisation is campaigning to protect the rights of landlords to repossess their properties.

This follows a recent court case in which a landlord’s attempt to regain their property was deemed invalid due to a dispute over a gas safety certificate.

Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children & Young People Board, Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, responds to the National Evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme.

“Councils have played a pivotal role in making the Troubled Families Programme a success for some of the most vulnerable families, and we urge the Government to continue funding this vital service.  This is one of the few remaining sources of early intervention funding for councils, with the Government’s Early Intervention Grant cut by £600 million since 2013”. 

State of the Union 2018: European Commission proposes to put an end to seasonal clock changes.

‘The EC is proposing to end seasonal clock changes in Europe in 2019, giving Member States the freedom to decide once and for all whether they want to permanently apply summer or wintertime.  The legislative proposal seeks to ensure that any changes are made in a coordinated way between neighbouring countries so as to safeguard the proper functioning of the internal market and avoid fragmentation, which could arise if some Member States kept seasonal clock changes arrangements while others discontinued them’.

A reminder to change your clocks next Saturday/Sunday night for what may be the last time if the EC gets its way at some point in the future.  And it may all depend on whether we end up with ‘EU’s Vassalage deal’ or ‘WTO Independence’!