Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

The UK Government launched its National Data Strategy (NDS) in 2020, the government sought feedback from all industries, from 9th September to 9th December, focusing on the following key topic:

1.    Unlocking the value of data across the economy

2.    Securing a pro-growth and trusted data regime

3.    Transforming the government’s use of data to drive efficiency and improve public services.

4.     Ensuring the security and resilience of the infrastructure on which data relies

5.     Championing the international flow of data

Why DAMA UK responded to the NDS Consultation?

Data and information are key enterprise assets that support an organisation. DAMA UK’s mission is to nurture a community of data professionals in the UK who champion the value of data management. We do this by connecting people, providing resources, and supporting development.

Therefore, DAMA UK is in a unique position to provide a response with and on behalf of our members, who cover the width and breadth of data professionals in the UK. Our members are from a plethora of industries and sectors including but not limited to, charity, utilities, defence, communication, education, government, agriculture, and health etc.

DAMA UK’s Position on the NDS Consultation

DAMA UK is passionate both about the future of data and the development of data professionals in the UK. We play an active part in the Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBoK), which includes the combined knowledge of data professionals around the world. We support the Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) qualification. Which certifies data professionals around the world in the disciplines of data management, ensuring a common standard. 

DAMA UK strongly supports the principles behind the UK National Data Strategy. 

1. Especially a strategy that provides a national framework to make data universally usable, by providing clarity of definitions, guidelines, and standards.
2. That will nurture trust in all organisations to work collaboratively to boost their individual industries, whilst cumulating in a world-leading data economy that the UK public can trust.
3. By creating an open and trusted data infrastructure that drives efficiencies as seen in the COVID-19 vaccine collaboration.
4. By providing cybersecurity and prevention of data threats across UK Plc.
5. In addition, post-COVID-19 and Brexit the UK government needs to explore the opportunities and challenges of our hyper-digital world and consider all relevant priorities, potential trade-offs, and decisions. Which can be used to create post-Brexit industry leaders here in the UK in preparation for the fourth industrial revolution.

Approach to the response 

I led a small subcommittee. We reached out to the DAMA UK’s membership through the monthly newsletter, blogs, monthly Bright Talk events and via all DAMA UK’s social media channels including LinkedIn and Twitter. With a month to respond to the consultation, our members responded from their respective industries which gave us a varied and wide-ranging response. Our subcommittee curated the material into our government NDS Consultation document. You can review our collated response here.

Next Steps

The government will publish its response to the consultation in early 2021. Subject to the consultation’s findings, the government may carry out further consultation or provide details of any potential changes to the current framework strategy. 

It's an exciting time to be in data in the UK. Watch this space, as there may be an opportunity to further input into the UK's National Data Strategy.

Lastly, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of our members who contributed to the response!

Season’s greetings and Happy New Year

Akhtar Ali

Akhtar Ali is Vice Chair of DAMA UK. A Data & Information Governance specialist with a wealth of experience in creating and implementing data vision and strategy. Akhtar has an extensive experience of working in the utilities industry, where he has gained both regulatory and commercial experience. He has a proven track record in Records Retention, GDPR, Data Governance, Data Quality tools, and Information Management, supported by strong Change Management and Business Transformation skills.