Lords seek bill to regulate automated decision making by government

The House of Lords is set to introduce a bill designed to regulate the use of algorithms and automated decision-making by public bodies.

Lord Clement-Jones, a Liberal Democrat peer and spokesman for the digital economy in the House of Lords (pictured), is behind the Private Members’ Bill. He said, “The Post Office/Horizon scandal demonstrates the painful human cost when there aren’t proper checks in place to challenge these automated systems.”

Clement-Jones, who is the former chair of the Lords Select Committee on AI, said there “are no legal obligations on public authorities to be transparent about when and how they use these algorithms.”

Under the new bill’s proposals, if a citizen is refused benefits or there is an immigration decision that is made using an automated system, they would have a right to access the information on why that happened so they might challenge it.

“This bill obliges public authorities to publish impact assessments of any automated or AI algorithms they use to make decisions, and to keep a transparency register on automated decision making,” said Clement-Jones in a statement.

“It also obliges the government to provide an independent dispute resolution service for people who want to challenge any decisions made about them.”

Maintaining safeguards

In December 2021, the government’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) published a roadmap designed to create an AI assurance industry to support the introduction of automated analysis, decision making, and processes, reports The Register.

The Central Digital and Data Office has also developed an algorithmic transparency standard for government departments and public sector bodies. Working with the CDEI, the standard would be piloted by several public sector organisations and further developed based on feedback, it said.

In a statement sent to The Register, the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT), said: “Technology has huge potential to improve public services, but we know it’s important to maintain the right safeguards including, where appropriate, human oversight and other forms of governance.

“We will respond to Lord Clement-Jones’ Private Members’ Bill in due course.”