Contacts: Luke Morris, Data Officer, NY County Council, John Kelly, Head of Data and Intelligence, NY County Council

Although an Office for Data Analytics has not been formally created yet, the North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) has recently introduced a dedicated data and intelligence team into its organisational structure to encourage innovation using data. NYCC are now looking to further the idea of collaborating with different agencies and are planning the creation of the nYODA on the back of existing partnerships across the region.

Origins, vision and objectives

The North Yorkshire Office of Data Analytics (nYODA) is about creating a group for data leaders, where they can influence how the region uses, shares and collectively benefits from data. The group will identify areas of improvement and opportunities to influence.

nYODA will help encourage the adoption and/or creation of mutually agreed standards to encourage

working between partners. It will provide oversight and aid the management of data sharing to assure compliance. It will encourage the sharing of tools and techniques to best account for GDPR and other legislative controls. nYODA will be a forum for sharing best practice and will offer a chance to develop better means of sharing data (API's etc.). The group will share tools, skills and help develop shared training and learning resources. It will help encourage a collective move into areas that will allow a certain degree of automation through chatbots and AI tools.

The objectives of nYODA are to offer data access amongst partners, assisting them with the pace of changes in relation to data legislation and providing them with the tools and skills needed to support and encourage innovation within the region.

Projects to-date: Information Sharing Gateway and the Harrogate Integrated Health & Social Care Programme

As nYODA builds on existing partnerships, information sharing agreements across members are already in place through the Information Sharing Gateway platform. The list of signatories includes a wide range of organisations in emergency services, health, district councils, charities and housing organisations.

Data sharing projects have already been finalised, pulling data from different agencies, especially within the Prevention and Troubled Families programmes.

One of the first areas of focus for nYODA will be the development of a Harrogate Integrated Health and Social Care Programme. This aims to develop and create a new integrated community health and social care service model for adults in the Harrogate locality for 2019 with a heavy reliance on sharing information effectively as well as agreed staffing structure and costed options for delivery. The phased ‘go-live’ will be from April 2019.

In the future, nYODA are also planning a project with a focus on Domestic Abuse.