Rashik Parmar MBE, CEO of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT has published an open letter to Peter Kyle MP, the newest Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
Kyle has been quick to get started in his new role, and toured tv and radio studios last week to communicate his mission to transform public services with technology, particularly the NHS, and build trust in the power of AI and emerging technologies.
The letter makes clear that the BCS supports Kyle in these missions and goes on to make some recommendations which have been endorsed by the BCS membership of some 70,000 members and includes business leaders, educators, practitioners and policy makers. The BCS is dedicated to promoting accountability and ethical practice in computing and digital technology.
The recommendations include:
- Supporting Chartered status for IT professionals
- Publication of ethical AI policies by businesses and public organisations
- Mandatory cybersecurity codes of practice and a requirement for company boards to name a person responsible for cybersecurity
The final recommendation of the prioritising of ‘digital literacy’ in schools and a plea to for a strategy to broaden the appeal of a tech career. To underline the urgency of this message the BCS points out that, based on a BCS analysis of ONS Labour Force Survey data, there are more than half a million women missing from the IT sector that would be here if representation matched other comparable professions.
The over-50s and people with disabilities are also under-represented.
Parmar argues that policy focus on these areas can close the aspiration gap for individuals and help UK companies compete globally.
It’s been a busy day for open letters. Another letter, coordinated by the UK Open Government Network further develops one of the BCS themes and calls on our new PM to bolster the UK’s engagement with AI and rebuild trust between government and citizens.
Signatories to this letter include Transparency International, the Open Knowledge Foundation, OpenUK, Spotlight on Corruption, Involve, Open Data Institute, Register Dynamics, Open Contracting Partnership, Foreign Policy Centre, and Icebreaker One. The letter and a full list of signatories is available here.
All of them welcome Keir Starmer’s stated intention to ‘rebuild trust through actions not words,’ and believe an existing model of government and civil society collaboration could support this.
Through membership of the 75-country Open Government Partnership the UK government jointly produces open government plans with civil society. It is thought this process could be expanded to widen representation, including from business, to achieve the government’s five missions.
The partnership hopes to support the government in a range of areas including ongoing engagement on technology including AI (and more widely open data) to support economic growth and innovation whilst maintaining safeguards and ensuring all the public benefit and also in developing a cross government Anti-Corruption Plan overseen by a new Anti-Corruption Champion. Transparent procurement to prove the better spending of taxpayers money is also a priority.
Kevin Keith, Chair of the UK Open Government Network and Co-Chair of the UK Multi-Stakeholder Forum, said:
“The Post Office scandal, PPE procurement, the opaque mortgage-raising 2022 mini-budget, the impact of corruption on UK growth, and the disregard for public standards and subsequent collapse in trust, demonstrate that open government is not peripheral to people’s lives: it is central. And that so much more could be done. This is why we welcome the opportunity to work with a new government to revive this agenda, broaden participation in policy-making and rebuild trust.”
Amanda Brock, CEO, OpenUK said:
“Enabling innovation and driving the UK’s economic growth through open technology including open data is a fundamental aspect of open government. Evolving technologies bring challenges, alongside opportunities, and a surprising number of those are met by openness. Civil society groups will work collaboratively with the government across artificial intelligence, machine learning, automated decision-making and more widely open data. Their expertise can support the government’s industrial strategy whilst maintaining safeguards and ensuring public benefit for all.”