Unlocking the economic and social value of private and third sector data

Unlocking the economic and social value of private and third sector data

Frontier was commissioned by the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to create an evidence-based framework to help the department prioritise amongst possible policy options for increasing availability of and access to private and third sector data. Our report was published today.

It forms part of a rapidly evolving evidence base on which DCMS can draw to make sensible policy choices to harness the positive economic and social benefit of increased availability of data.

The economic and social benefits of increasing availability of data could be vast; from improved productivity to supporting research and the delivery of public services. It could also lead to the development of additional services (e.g. current account comparison services in the case of Open Banking) or to increased choice and competition.

Our study identifies a number of issues that may prevent access to data, and a set of policy levers that Government could use to remove or mitigate these issues. The policy levers we identified could include:

  • seeking to improve the wider understanding of data sharing and its associated benefits;
  • improving or providing additional incentives to share data;
  • supporting ways to address risk associated with data sharing;
  • reducing the cost of sharing through improved data foundations;
  • reducing the (perceived) regulatory burden associated with some types of data sharing; and
  • mandating data sharing in some instances.

Sarah Snelson, Director in the Public Policy practice at Frontier said: “Frontier are delighted to have worked with DCMS on this important and rapidly evolving area of policy.  Our report typifies the huge amount of thinking that is going on across the public sector about the value of data, building on the National Data Strategy. Given the crucial role that data and digital technologies that unlock data can play in the UK’s economic recovery prioritising the policies with the greatest scope to unlock that value is key.”

To read the full report, please click here.

For more information please contact media@frontier-economics.com, or call +44 (0)20 7031 7000.