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The Camden Borough Council, in London, UK, aims to leverage its advanced data capabilities to achieve significant community benefits. However, these ambitions hinge on establishing a strong level of trust with residents about how their data is used. Moreover, Camden is faced with challenges in demystifying data and AI for the public, bridging the digital divide and navigating public perceptions influenced by a sensationalist media landscape.
Camden initiated a comprehensive dialogue on ethical data use by forming a resident panel representative of its diverse community. Through weekend sessions, the panel reviewed case studies, discussed Camden’s data practices and directly engaged with data experts to enhance trust and collaboration. Distinguished speakers from Camden Council, the Alan Turing Institute, Ada Lovelace Institute and Transport for London also shared insights on data's benefits and risks. This effort led to the creation of the Camden Data Charter, a set of co-designed principles and promises that is reviewed and updated as needed. Additionally, Camden Council commits to regular communication and public engagement activities about its data use with the “Camden Talks Data “events series.
Public engagement and open data practices have increased transparency and trust among UK residents about data governance. The Camden Data Charter aligns with residents’ expectations, legal requirements and ethical standards for data use, including the application of artificial intelligence technologies. Camden has also continued to engage the public through the “Camden Talks Data” events. This events series engages and educates residents about data projects, ensuring that data use remains transparent and understandable.
only 31% respondents trusted central and local government in the UK with their data in 2019
The London Borough of Camden strongly believes that data rights are human rights. Data is an important part of any modern organisation. However, there are significant challenges around ensuring trust in the way organisations collect, hold and use people’s personal information. While there are risks that individual freedoms can be exploited, people often misunderstand the possibilities and general concepts involved in data processing.
A survey taken by the Open Data Institute in October 2019 found that just 31 percent of respondents trusted central and local government in the UK with their data, and 87 percent felt it was "important that organisations they interact with use data about them ethically." Camden therefore needed to foster trust by collaborating with residents. This could be achieved by involving the public in data-related decision-making and being transparent how data would be used to improve service delivery, policy decisions and their experience with the Council.
In the spirit of openness and transparency, Camden is determined to show how a public organisation can lead the way and act as a responsible custodian of data. In October 2021, they drafted the Camden Data Charter principles, vision, success criteria and governance with the help of Camden’s citizens through a resident panel representative of Camden’s communities. Through this participatory process, they responded to the “Camden 2025” vision, which calls on the Council to increase impactful community participation and open up democratic processes.
Camden then outlined a series of commitments to implementing the Camden Data Charter. A second resident panel was held in January 2023 to scrutinise these commitments and Camden’s adherence to the Data Charter’s principles. This review resulted in some changes to the Charter including an additional principle and updated long-term and ongoing commitments.
The resident panels reinforced Camden’s overall commitment to increase impactful community participation.
Several organizations helped drive this community-wide effort. Camden enlisted the help of the Alan Turing Institute and Involve, a public participation charity, to provide independent advice and help to host the resident panels. Camden also enlisted the help of the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) who provided funding for a user research organisation called Reply to survey Camden residents.
In their user research, Reply conducted focused interviews with residents on perceptions about Camden as a data controller and important elements to include in a data ethics framework. The report was then presented to the first resident panel to ensure they considered a wider range of views than merely those in the room when writing the Data Charter's principles.
During the three-day resident panel, Camden primarily collected qualitative data about panellists’ ideas. The group debated and agreed on concepts, jointly guided by the Camden Council and the Alan Turing Institute and with independent facilitation by Involve. Real case studies of data use were also presented by Camden to ground complex data concepts and to help participants to create informed and relevant principles. Additionally, Camden gave a presentation about UK GDPR legislation so that panellists were clear about the remit of the Council's power and could ensure compatibility and avoid duplication between the Charter and relevant legal frameworks.
The final version of Camden Council's Data Charter was then presented to a session of Full Council. It became official policy in January 2022. This advancement has led to several internal process changes. Now, an ethical assessment is incorporated into all Data Privacy Impact Assessments (DPIA) and DPIA Pre-Screens so that the Data Charter principles are considered as part of every data-enabled project. All DPIAs and DPIA Pre-Screens are also now published on Camden's Open Data Portal.
Camden has continued to improve their processes of managing data to ensure a culture of data ethics is upheld. Their focus is to make any innovations in data use transparent and understandable to residents.
This approach has led to several streams of research with other organisations, as well as an internal process evaluation to ensure similar standards of due diligence and scrutiny are applied to proposed uses of artificial intelligence technologies. This will not only help Camden make ethical decisions about how and when to apply these technologies, but also to ensure transparency of decisions are understandable for residents.
Camden has also continued public engagements through a new series of events called “Camden Talks Data”. These events present new or proposed projects that use data or artificial intelligence. The conversations break down plans for a general audience, who are then given the chance to discuss these projects and ask questions to the Council officers involved. These events, which are advertised through all the Council’s channels, are open to any member of the public. Camden also works with local community groups to encourage people to attend.