Today I’ve been reading the ONS ‘Lessons Learnt Review’ regarding the delayed project to overhaul the Labour Force Survey. The short version: systematic underinvestment, and recurring overoptimism… an experience the data management community knows all too well.

We each see it in our own organisations, with leadership waxing lyrical about being a data- or AI-enabled business, but rarely giving data management the budget to deliver. Every day, DAMA UK members work wonders with the resources they’re given, while striving to contain their execs’ wilder ambitions, and advocate for proportionate investment. It will come as no surprise that politicians need the same kind of reality-checks.

That’s why, last week, DAMA UK compiled and submitted a response to the UK government’s industrial strategy consultation. [link to response]

The strategy that follows from this exercise will have implications for all of us: as employees, business owners, citizens, consumers, and users of public services. As a strategy with data at its core, our profession cannot leave it to non-experts! If we want an industrial strategy as robust and effective as it can be, we going to have to give of our expertise to point it in the right direction.

It’s important to note that while this is certainly political engagement, DAMA UK engages from a position of political independence. Our members are a diverse bunch, covering different regions, demographics, industries and sectors, and different political tendencies. That’s our strength. It allows us to give a balanced view, free of the constraints of narrow experience or allegiances, and unified by our professional expertise.

In assembling our response to the industrial strategy consultation, I was struck both by our members’ breadth of knowledge, and by the real unity on many points. One recurring theme was a real welcome for the centrality of data in the government’s proposals, and the priority given to sharing of national data assets. On the flip side, members consistently and constructively called for realism, and serious investment in data management capabilities, especially in the public sector, to match the strategic ambitions.

Our submission says, loud and clear, “Data is worth doing, so it’s worth doing well.”

Interestingly, workforce data such as the Labour Force Survey got a specific mention, as one of the national data assets most critical to the delivery of industrial strategy. The ONS review gives a timely reminder to the teams developing the strategy, that effective data can’t be wished into being. Data management experts throughout the public sector and the wider economy, must be supported, listened to, and properly resourced to play their starring role in delivering this strategy.

DAMA UK’s mission is to nurture a community of data professionals who champion data management. Our submission to the consultation hits every note. Each of you who contributed, whether by survey, email, webinar (or via my LinkedIn DMs!) is part of a community action. We are now on record, as experts, advocating for our discipline, and offering professional insight to improve an important national policy.

Let’s do more of this!

• I would love to hear your thoughts on the final submission: what would you add, and what would you challenge?
• Do you know of other consultations – UK-wide or devolved administrations – that DAMA UK should have a say in?
• How can we best engage members to develop DAMA UK policy positions in future?        
  

Read the DAMA UK Response - DamaUK_ResponseSummary.pdf