An independent body should be set up to provide legal guidance on the sharing of personal data across the public sector, a free-market think tank has proposed.

An Office of Data Responsibility (ODR) would complement the work of the Information Commissioner’s Office, a report by Policy Exchange suggests.

The ODR would also independently review novel ideas for using data and help share examples of best practice, and give independent auditing and accreditation of public sector data privacy and data ethics policies.

Author Eddie Copeland said councils are currently hindered from embarking on data-sharing initiatives due to confusion over what the law does and does not permit.  

Mark Turnbull, head of service, legal services, at Leeds City Council, said the ODR was an interesting proposal, but he was unsure how it could be part and parcel of the ICO, as the ICO would not purport to give legal guidance to data controllers, given their position as a regulator.

‘Having said that,’ noted Turnbull, who is also the information law spokesman for Lawyers in Local Government, ‘if this led to existing guidance such as the ICO’s Data Sharing Code of Practice becoming broader and deeper, and perhaps sector-based so that there was guidance specifically targeted at the public sector, then I’m sure that would be welcomed.’

Turnbull said local government lawyers had a good understanding of the legal rules around data-sharing. ‘I certainly don’t get the impression that local authorities are over-cautious about data-sharing or that they have a default position of not sharing because of uncertainties about the law, as the report suggests.’

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the establishment of a new legal body that could also issue general guidance could cause confusion. It did not see the need for an office as described by Policy Exchange.

’We already work effectively with all parts of the public sector providing advice and guidance on data sharing, and welcome the role of sector-based bodies and third parties such as the Information Sharing Centre of Excellence in providing further gudiance and disseminating good practice,’ an ICO spokesperson said.

The Policy Exchange report, Small Pieces Loosely Joined, looks at how smarter use of technology and data can deliver ‘real reform’ of local government. The single greatest barrier to achieving technology-enabled reform, it argues, is the sector’s fragmentation. Radical change, the report states, would not be easy, but is urgent because of the £12.4bn financial shortfall local authorities face by 2020.  

The funding crisis has already spurred a new wave of transformation and innovation in legal departments.