Importance of Data In government sector

Information is at the core of government activities. Managing data and ensuring it is as accurate and up to date as possible is critical for all levels of government in Australia, from local councils to state or federal departments.

Governments collect a wide range of personal information for a variety of reasons. Voting information, tax information, vehicle registration, criminal records, residency information, child safety -the list goes on and on.

Call centres, letters, email, face to face, citizens interact with government via multiple channels. The rise of e-government has also seen a massive increase in data collected via the internet.

However it is captured, the data government departments' possess is vital and the consequences of 'getting data management wrong' are both wide spread and severe.

Imagine if a social worker arrived at a home to check on the welfare of minors in response to a report of abuse - and the address was wrong. Not only would this be embarrassing for the government department, it could also jeopardise the safety of the young people involved. This is just one of numerous scenarios where public safety could be at risk due to insufficient or incorrect data held by government departments.

There are multiple acts and guidelines pertaining to the mitigation of risk through personal information. For example, legislation relating to background checks on employees working with children, criminal records legislation including the National Offenders Register, public housing records, and elder care records. Even emergency services can be affected by improperly collected or maintained government records.

There are multiple acts and guidelines - from the National Privacy Act to state and local based guidelines on personal information and data quality, as well as legislation pertaining to the mitigation of risk through personal information.

The introduction of increased levels of compliance and reporting place a greater onus on businesses, and government departments, to ensure they are regularly updating and maintaining accurate information within their databases.

For example, the Federal Government introduced privacy protection legislation in 2001 which proscribes that organisations have an obligation to uphold individual's rights to privacy by regulating the collection, usage and disclosure of personal information. Centralising all of the information a department holds about an individual and ensuring its accuracy is imperative to ensure compliance.

Legal requirements from Federal law state that Government departments must archive data for the past 25 years and demonstrate reasonable care in the maintenance of databases. As it is a well-documented fact that 17% of the Australian population move home every year, it immediately becomes obvious that a 25-year-old database will contain an inordinate amount of inaccurate data. Australia Post advises that every day over 9,000 addresses change.

According to the National Privacy Act, "An organisation must take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information it collects, uses or discloses is accurate, complete and up-to-date." Therefore it is a matter of law that the public services has systems and processes in place to ensure the accuracy of data, both when it is initial collected and over the period of time the data is retained.