Government crest UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)

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Laying the foundations for better local public services

Digital data protection impact assessment (DPIA) tool

Contents:

  1. Project outputs
  2. Project timeline
  3. Feedback

This Alpha aimed to create a universal and compliant Digital DPIA Tool to empower and support staff and support the generation of a privacy risk register. The aim was to create a product that is available for other areas to use and that can facilitate a national approach to the DPIA.

Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) are a requirement of data protection legislation but are seen as an intensive and onerous process. Challenges exist around inconsistency of format across councils, human resource, a lack of understanding of the process on the part of the staff who complete them, document control and duplication of data and effort.

There is a need for a more ergonomic and user-friendly DPIA process that all staff feel comfortable with. This must provide crucial technical support, helping to remove barriers to the creation of compliant DPIA.

Project outputs

All Local Digital Fund alpha projects were asked to provide the following information at completion:

  • User research report
  • Benefits case
  • A user experience demo or design pattern, a data model or a set of instructions
  • Recommendations for next steps

Downloads

Project details

Phase: Alpha

Funding granted: £74,900

Duration: December 2018 – May 2019

Partners: Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Organisations: Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Services: Central and other services

Project links

Project timeline

December 2018 - alpha

‘Digital data protection impact assessment (DPIA) tool’ alpha receives £74,900 from the Local Digital Fund.

May 2019 - alpha

‘Digital data protection impact assessment (DPIA) tool’ alpha delivers project outputs which are published on the Local Digital website.

Feedback

Each project was assessed using these lenses by the Local Digital Collaboration Unit. We have provided feedback directly to the project teams and this is a summary of what we shared with them.

It aims to be constructive for both the project team and any other organisation wishing to learn about the project or make use of the work done.

  • The project looked at a process that is in use across the public sector including local authorities making it likely to be of interest to the wider sector. The team should consider outlining in more detail the organisations involved in their research, explaining how this has shaped the development of user needs which would in turn help to build confidence that the solution meets user needs.
  • The project team worked in the open, speaking about their work at sector events including iNetwork, SOCITM, and Local Digital roadshows; by using Twitter; posting progress on Pipeline and creating videos which is likely to have helped to build a community of interest around this work.
  • The project team actively engaged with partners from health and transport services in Manchester and provides a good example of how project outputs can be scaled beyond the local government sector which is likely to be of interest to other authorities.
  • The project team undertook user research and should consider more clearly articulating this within the project outputs, providing detail about methodology and participants in order to give confidence that the solution meets user needs.
  • The project team published technical outputs in the open on Github. This is likely to help build a community of interest which could give confidence that the proposed solution is scalable.