Does data now have a seat at the table during strategic discussions? If not, what will it take to get it there?
As a result of both the pandemic and longer-term stakeholder engagement across the organisation, data does now have a place in all strategic discussions in DWP. The tipping point was a simple question at the start of the first Lockdown when around 30,000 DWP colleagues were unable to come to work: where are our people?
This could only be answered by bringing together data that had never been leveraged before to build a picture of how DWP was adapting to having to flip from working in the office to working remotely.
The other key question was: who will become unemployed next? This has proven the effectiveness of advanced operational analytics. All of this has led to full support to a comprehensive investment in underlying data architecture and an organisation-wide data review to establish how to ensure DWP leverages data and insight better.
What are your key areas of focus for data and analytics in 2022?
We have three focus areas this year: the labour market, fraud and error reduction and service modernisation.
The UK labour market is very buoyant at the moment, but there are structural mismatches in relation to jobs and skills, and between places which mean that it is hard for some people to find work and for the economy to achieve its potential. We are using data to understand these dynamics and empower our work coaches to provide better advice to the people that need our support. At the same time, we are using data to better engage with employers and partners in government to address the root causes of the jobs/skills gap.
Fraud in the benefits system increased as a result of the temporary cessation of in-person identity verification checks. These are now back in place, however we learned a lot about transaction risking and in-flight fraud detection during the pandemic that we are now scaling.
Service modernisation is a DWP-wide programme to improve how we serve the 22m citizens that come to us for help every year and reduce our cost base. This programme includes rebuilding the data architecture for DWP and moving to a fully citizen-centric, events-based data architecture and a move to fully cloud-based analytics in order to drive improved business outcomes through meaningful customer segmentation and personalisation.
These three priorities represent a genuine inflection point in the maturation of data usage in DWP and the wider social welfare ecosystem in the UK.
Tell us what leadership means to you in the context of your role as a senior data leader.
I have always thought of leadership in three dimensions, and I think these still apply as a senior data leader.
I am responsible for a team of 685 data professionals in DWP, plus 300 partner colleagues, and therefore my first responsibility is as a people leader. Our data people deliver critical services to extremely vulnerable people and we need to work as a team and grow and develop together.
I am accountable for a wide range of data live services that are part of the fabric of UK society, such as supporting all of DWP benefit provision, eligibility checking for NHS free prescriptions, the Warm Homes Discount Scheme and the UK electoral roll. This requires strong operational leadership and a grip of the fundamentals of operational data.
As a senior data leader I also provide thought leadership and set the vision on how data can drive improved outcomes for citizens and for DWP. This leadership dimension requires deep technical understanding of the value of data and, critically as the most senior data leader in an organisation, how that connects with the operating context of the organisation and its customers.
