Camden’s data teams are heavily involved in council services across more than 600 lines of business, ranging from property management and parking through to schools and social care. “The pandemic deepened inequalities that we were already aware of, and data is an incredibly powerful tool in helping us address these issues. For example, we’re currently exploring how data can support one of Camden’s key missions – that by 2030 everyone in the borough will be eating well every day with nutritious, affordable and sustainable food.”
To do so, Camden is working on improving data sharing and collaboration with local voluntary and community sector organisations. Khan says this is part of a broader goal to deliver improved access to information on areas like food deprivation, as well as initiatives undertaken by the council and its partners. “Ultimately, this will help to support our mission in a number of ways, allowing for better informed and more targeted decisions with a richer level of insight.”
“We’re an organisation that relies on human connection.”
That said, sparking cultural change is no easy task, particularly within an organisation where areas of focus and expertise vary widely. “It’s incredible just how much the council does. Our long-term ambition is to turn this challenge into our biggest opportunity, and our investment in data and product disciplines should help us work towards synthesising these varied perspectives and data sets across services to unearth new insights for us to test, learn and build from,” says Khan.
Embedding a data culture
Khan joined Camden six months into the pandemic, encountering a culture that was already data-friendly by local authority standards. “Effective use of data played a critical role in helping our council and community navigate a difficult and constantly changing environment, and those events have definitely reinforced just how transformational data can be,” he explains. But like most organisations of Camden’s size and complexity, raising the level of data maturity is an ongoing task. “We’ve made a good start, but there’s still a long way to go given how much potential we’ve yet to unlock through data.”
Making progress on this front will rely on adopting outcomes-based foundations, says Khan. “It starts with understanding needs and then considering the specific people we want better off, and in which specific way want that to happen. From there, we can work backwards to understand where the challenges are.” Inspiring change will depend upon education and building engagement with data throughout the organisation. “In terms of education, it’s not enough to just use data, it has to be utilised in the right way. There’s a temptation to see data as a drunk uses a lamppost: for support rather than illumination. That’s a dangerous approach.”
Simply talking data is rarely enough to spark engagement. Instead, it is important that data, and data teams, can speak directly to the challenges faced by the council. “We are an organisation that relies on human connection. In building dialogue across the council, our teams need to talk about the insight that can be derived from data to inform an outcomes-based approach. When we talk about how data can, for example, help our frontline staff build better relationships and make better data-informed decisions, it lands in a much more compelling manner”
“The job here is much more local – you get to see the tangible outcomes when you step out of the office.”
While communication skills are playing an increasingly vital role, Khan is also keen to ramp up Camden’s data science capabilities. “I’ve never worked anywhere with such rich datasets, and there’s so much untapped potential across those 600 lines of business. It’s intellectually challenging, and we have to make sure we’re developing the right pipeline of talent through a combination of injecting experience, upskilling existing staff and sourcing talent through our apprenticeship scheme.” That said, public sector bodies simply do not have the financial clout to compete on salaries in the war for data talent. Instead, Khan believes factors like purpose, scope to innovate and partnership with world class institution make for attractive proposition to entice practitioners into the sector.
Beyond the intellectual appeal of its vast data sets, Khan believes that Camden has a few unique selling points that could appeal to the right candidate. “We’re all about creating a positive change in people’s lives. It’s a core metric here, and while that might also be the case outside of the public sector, it’s often secondary to pursuit of revenue and growth.” While data science techniques are becoming commonplace at a national level, local bodies lag. This, he hopes, could appeal to those looking to break new ground in a rewarding environment. “The expertise hasn’t been in the sector for long, so there’s an opportunity to be really pioneering while unlocking some truly game-changing solutions. A lot of the time, data science is used to crunch big, global data sets. The job here is much more local, and you get to see the tangible outcomes of your efforts when you step out of the office.”
A citizen-focused approach
But as the techniques used to bring about data-driven improvements to community problems grow more complex, there is a risk that data can become more abstract to privacy-conscious citizens. This is where initiatives like the Data Charter become increasingly vital, says Khan. “It’s highly likely that we’ll need to utilise more data in the future as we improve the way we deliver services and reduce inequalities in the borough, but the use of data in this context is contentious. Understandably, there’s a concern in our community around the data we collect and what we do with it – which is where the idea for the Data Charter arose. It’s essentially a social contract between the council and its citizens, detailing how our residents expect us to conduct ourselves as guardians of their data.”
Camden baked its citizen-focused outlook into the process by partnering with the Alan Turing Institute on several workshops for a cross-section of residents representing the borough’s diverse communities. “Data is a difficult topic to understand at the best of times, so the team put a lot of thought into understanding ways of engaging with lay residents so that we could ask some tough questions around data privacy and ethics in a meaningful way.” Residents were given training and guidance from data experts from both the institute and the council itself. “The sessions helped our residents to understand what the council currently does with data, and what it could do with data. We also laid out a range of case studies that were specifically designed to test the boundaries of resident trust, enabling us to anticipate future challenges.”
The next steps
As the borough’s plans for a data-driven future take shape, it is looking to add another cog to its machine: a chief data officer. Indeed, the council has committed to hiring a CDO responsible for upholding the agreements detailed within the Data Charter. “Data has always been viewed as one of Camden’s most valuable strategic assets, and while there is a lot of talent and expertise implanted within our individual services, it feels like more can be done at a council-wide level,” explains Khan, which is where he believes the new CDO could make a real difference.
“This person will be the most senior data officer in the council, leading the start of an approach that will result in better synergies across our services. Outside of the obvious data expertise, we are looking for someone who is excited by the challenge and understands the opportunity.” Previous public sector experience is far from necessary. “We’re looking for new and interesting perspectives. Camden hired me with little public sector experience, and I’ve hired a few others with similar backgrounds to great effect, so I would encourage anyone that hasn’t previously considered a role in public sector to take a look.”
For more information about the London Borough of Camden’s chief data officer position, click here.
