Enabling secure and responsible data sharing in the public sector

New privacy-preserving technologies are helping to unlock the potential of sensitive data, such as health and social care information, according to experts from software consultancy ThoughtWorks.

Erin Nicholson, global head of data protection & privacy, and Jim Gumbley, business information security officer (pictured), shared insights on the role of governance in enabling transformative data sharing initiatives within the public sector, at the Think Digital Identity and Cybersecurity for Government event in London.

“The best examples are where you have the most sensitive data,” said Nicholson. “In social care, there’s a real struggle between protecting individual privacy and unlocking the utility of that data to improve outcomes. But with the right approach, you can actually increase both privacy and utility.”

Gumbley explained how techniques like secure multiparty computation and federated learning can allow data to be leveraged for specific purposes without the need to share entire datasets.

“It’s about building purpose limitation into the data stack,” he said. “The file can be shared, but it can only be used for that one specific purpose.”

The experts emphasised that this shift in approach is not just about the technology, but also about rethinking governance models. Nicholson highlighted the importance of involving a range of stakeholders, from data scientists to data protection officers, to ensure innovative use cases are enabled while maintaining appropriate safeguards.

“It’s really about making it accessible and usable for people,” said Gumbley, citing the example of the NHS app, which has transformed the user experience of accessing personal health data.

The discussion also touched on the challenges of working with legacy systems in the public sector and the need to get the basics right in terms of security, identity management, and data consolidation.

“It’s not very exciting, and it might be expensive, but really they’re the foundation of the digital platforms that then enable the outcomes,” Gumbley said.

Both were optimistic about the potential of these new approaches to data sharing, which they believe can help build public trust and enable more effective collaboration across the public sector.

“It’s really about moving the access control problem to the data end,” Gumbley concluded. “That’s really powerful, and it’s a great way to address some of the intractable governance and technical challenges we’ve seen in the past.”