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The Mayor of London The London Assembly

City Data Analytics Programme

Individual public organisations across London have been using data analytics for many years and some are increasingly developing their own data science capacity. Benefits of this approach include:

  • the ability to progress beyond reporting and dashboards to provide forecasts of service demand
  • linking large, complex and regularly changing datasets together, giving a more holistic view
  • discovering patterns and trends that are not immediately obvious or widely known

The City Data Analytics Programme provides the additional resources to accelerate this process and to support collaborative projects. Four types of support have been identified (based on the findings of the London Office of Data Analytics (LODA) pilot with NESTA and the work of other Offices of Data Analytics):

  1. A core resource of data science expertise to be used in individual data science exercises, as well as to contribute to the development of data science proposals. This will be provided by:
    • Data scientists from within the GLA’s staff
    • Staff from the London boroughs (by agreement) and the wider public sector
    • Academic partners
  1. LOTI provides a central project management facility, applying the LOTI outcomes-based methodology.
  1. On technical support, the London DataStore is available as an open data publishing platform, as well as a ‘convening point’ where ideas for data science projects in London are exposed, explored and formed into viable projects. The City DataStore is our secure data sharing platform which allows for the safe exchange and use of sensitive forms of “city data”. Technical support will also encompass work led by the GLA to develop and promote open shared standards for data management and use
  2. Legal support and information governance advice will be available through a joint project with London Fire Brigade. Co-ordination efficiency gains and uniformity of approach can be found in a growing library of data sharing agreements catalogued in the Information Sharing Gateway, privacy impact assessments and other documentation which will help multiple public services and their partners share data to high ethical standards

Origins, funding and wider reading

The London Office for Technology & Innovation  is a new city-wide function which will build common capability & opportunity to collaborate and scale digital & smart technology across London’s public services. Jointly developed by the Mayor, London Councils and a core group of London boroughs, LOTI will formally launch in April 2019. LOTI and other Smarter London Together actions will build capacity through a series of workstreams including the City Data Analytics Programme.

The City Data Analytics Programme is built on connections made through the Borough Data Partnership (and previous pan-London data agreements). It was formally set up by the Mayor of London in 2017 following a pilot with Nesta and several London boroughs throughout 2016-17. We are part of a loose wider network of Offices of Data Analytics. The City Data Analytics Programme has now secured  investment (including gifts in kind) from City Hall, the London Fire Brigade, the Centre for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) in London, and Sharing Cities, a Horizon 2020 EU-funded project.