Consultation on Digital Economy Act 2017: part 5 (data sharing codes and regulations) in relation to the delivery of Scottish public services

Overview

We would like public bodies in Scotland to be able to make use of the new data sharing powers as set out in the part 5 of the UK Government’s Digital Economy Act for the purposes of public services delivery. The UK government has recently consulted on draft regulations which set out four specific objectives for which data can be shared under the public service delivery provisions and the specific, non-devolved bodies that can use these powers. The four objectives are: multiple disadvantages, television retuning, fuel poverty, and water poverty.

This consultation sets out the bodies in Scotland we would like to name in the legislation as being able to make use of the new powers for the multiple disadvantages, television retuning and fuel poverty objectives identified by the UK government, as well as seeking your views on what objectives the Scottish Government could propose in the future to improve public service delivery in Scotland.

Why your views matter

The main purpose of this consultation is to seek views on:

1) Whether the public bodies we have identified as benefitting from the data sharing powers set out in part 5 of the Digital Economy Act are the right ones, and whether there are other public bodies we could include.

2) What objectives we could set for Scotland in the future, and the public bodies we could name to support those objectives

This consultation will run for 8 weeks. The shorter than normal consultation period will enable us to align with the UK Government timescale for laying Scottish regulations.  The public service delivery powers outlined in this consultation are limited to assessing whether the public bodies we have identified as benefitting from the data sharing powers (as set out in part 5 of the Digital Economy Act) are the right ones, and to seek views on any Scottish objectives we might like to set in the future to allow data sharing.  We plan to consult on further detailed use of these powers at a later date.

Download the consultation paper.