Council of Data Ethics to be established at Alan Turing Institute

New body tasked with "overcoming public distrust over data sharing"

The government is to act on a recommendation by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee that it establish a data science ethics council, announcing that the body will be set up within the Alan Turing Institute.

The recommendation was contained in a report into government use of big data released by the committee in February. The report called for urgent action to overcome "public distrust over data sharing", and said "the government should establish a Council of Data Ethics in the Alan Turing Institute as a means of addressing the growing legal and ethical challenges associated with balancing privacy, anonymisation, security and public benefit".

In its response to the report published on 26 April, the government said:

"The government agrees with the committee's proposal for independent oversight and will consider how a Council for Data Science Ethics should be established. This body would address key ethical challenges for data science and provide technical research and thought leadership on the implications of data science across all sectors.

"The Alan Turing Institute is well placed to play a leading role and to be a convening power. Clarifying and providing guidance on ethical, legal and technical issues will allow data science to develop more quickly and appropriately, giving the UK an opportunity to gain a global advantage."

The Alan Turing Institute was founded in 2015 to drive advances in computer science, mathematics, statistics and systems engineering.