Parental social licence for operational data linkage and analytics to identify families for service intervention

National and local government departments and services collect and hold information about families, such as taxation, medical records, pupil data, police records. These different data sources can be linked together and used operationally through the application of algorithms to identify individual families for service intervention, with data linkage and analysis carried out in-house or outsourced to private data analytic companies. On the one hand, data linkage and analytics offer more efficient public services based on predictive risk modelling to pre-empt problems, and targeting for enhanced outcomes. One the other hand, issues have been raised about data security, consent, deterring parents from using services, and the extent of public acceptance and trust - known as social licence.

This study will fill a vital gap in knowledge about the dynamics of social licence and trust for operational data linkage and analytics among parents of dependent children, in a context where policy developments, and data linkage and analytics practices to inform services interventions may be moving ahead of public knowledge and consent. Specifically it will undertake a series of interlinked systematic and in-depth research activities to provide a multidimensional understanding:
1. Identify the various supportive and critical rationales for data linkage and analytics, predictive risk modelling, and family intervention by conducting an analysis of the content of reports and discussions by national and local government, data analytic companies, charities and advocacy groups, parenting sites, and mainstream media, reports and discussions.
2. Ascertain the consensus among parents about what is acceptable or unacceptable in relation to data linkage and analytics as a basis for risk modelling and intervention in family lives, and any differences between parents from different social groups (e.g. gender, social class, ethnicity) in social licence and trust, through a survey of c. 1000 parents of dependent children.
3. Examine how different social groups of parents articulate and negotiate their perspectives on operational data linkage and analytics, predictive risk modelling, and potential benefits or harms through holding discussions with up to five groups each made up of, for example, mothers or fathers, minority ethnic parents, affluent or disadvantaged parents, urban or rural residents.
4. Explore the specific views and experiences of parents who are engaging with family service interventions on the data held about them, and the parameters of their social licence and bases for trust in operational data linkage and analytics, through individual interviews with up to 20 of them.

The research intends to provide a comprehensive, dynamic and multifaceted understanding of parental social licence for and trust in operational data linkage and analytics that can inform public understanding, policy development, and practices in the field of family intervention. It will:
- involve a range of experts from academia, statutory and voluntary sectors in an advisory group throughout the study, to help inform the research as it develops;
- help to inform public understanding of operational data linkage and analytics, especially parents, including through an informative animated video output;
- feed policy maker and advocacy group understandings and considerations of issues in operational data linkage and analytics for family intervention into the development of policy recommendations from the findings through a workshop, and promotion of recommendations including through briefing papers; and
- contribute to academic understanding of social licence, trust and operational data linkage and analytics in the field of family services through delivering conference papers and publishing in targeted peer reviewed academic journals.

BENEFICIARIES:
The research will fill the gap in knowledge by providing evidence about social licence for operational data linkage and analytics for family intervention among parents of dependent children. The project will be of benefit to:
- Stakeholders with an interest in data regulation, ethical practice and social licence: governmental, eg. Office for Statistics Regulation (see email of support), Information Commissioner; charitable foundations, eg. Nuffield's Ada Lovelace Institute, Family Justice Observatory; advocacy groups, eg. defenddigitalme, Privacy International; and The Alan Turing Institute public policy programme.
- National and local statutory and voluntary family service policymakers and providers, and advocacy groups, with a stake in social licence for operational data linkage and analytics, eg. Troubled Families Team, Family Action, Barnardos, Family Rights Group.
- Public, especially parents, who have an interest in being informed and who are social licence stakeholders.

BENEFITS:
A recurrent issue in discussions of data linkage and analytics is social licence and trust, with attention from international, national and local government bodies; charitable foundations; family service providers, and advocacy groups:
- Stakeholders with an interest in data regulation, ethical practice and social licence for operational data linkage and analytics will be provided with a comprehensive evidence base on social licence among parents. Understanding of the contingencies of acceptance and trust is fundamental if efforts to develop governance initiatives and to sustain social licence among parents of dependent children are to have any purchase. (See email of support from Head of Office for Statistics Regulation.)
- National and local statutory and voluntary family service policymakers and providers, and advocacy groups, with a stake in social licence for operational data linkage and predictive analytics on the families they serve and campaign for, will benefit from evidence about whether or not operational data linkage and analytics are counterproductive, especially among marginalised groups of parents. This information is vital if services are to work effectively with parents, and advocacy groups are to support their interests.
- In a context where there is a need for increased public understanding of data linkage and analytics to inform family service interventions, the public, especially parents, have an interest in being informed as social licence stakeholders. This project will benefit them by providing accessible knowledge about operational data linkage and predictive analytics for family intervention, enabling them to make informed decisions about acceptance, trust and consent.

OPPORTUNITIES:
Comprehensive pathways to impact will ensure that opportunities are built into the project for policy and advocacy stakeholders to help shape the research and the recommendations that emerge. (See Pathways to Impact.) To ensure that the research findings and recommendations are of benefit:
- Policy and advocacy stakeholders will have the opportunity to work with the research team through a workshop to develop policy and governance recommendations and to shape next steps for the research team and stakeholders in acting on the recommendations. Impact pathways to ensure that a broader range of stakeholders benefit from research findings and recommendations will occur through briefings, an audiocast and a slide deck.
- The public, especially parents, will have the opportunity to benefit from the research through impact pathways that communicate information about operational data linkage and analytics, thereby supporting strategies for public understanding by other stakeholders. Notably this will occur through a high quality animated video explaining the issues, posted on YouTube and publicised through pieces in media outlets.