Data Justice

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 2:18 pm on 25 January 2023.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 2:18, 25 January 2023

Diolch yn fawr, Sarah Murphy. I do want to acknowledge and recognise the ways in which Sarah Murphy, particularly, is taking up this issue—and I think it benefits all of us—and chairing the cross-party group, because we are all learning about this, but we have responsibilities and we have powers. All in authority have powers, and we must recognise the link between data justice and social justice in the way that you've described. Thank you for referring to the ways in which this has now come to life, in terms of the evidence in the Equality and Social Justice Committee about migrant women and the way in which data can be abused, as well as used. This is about that kind of balance. I was pleased to give evidence to that committee, but also to look at this from a citizen's perspective and how citizens can engage. And so it has to be at the heart of our equality and social justice thinking—how do we engage with our citizens.

We're very fortunate that we've actually got the Data Justice Lab here in Cardiff University, and the work that they've done. And you've, obviously, engaged; we're engaged with it on citizen scoring. It's really important. And we do have a close relationship with the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, but we want to see how we can get public bodies to consider data ethics by publishing guidance, and also that guidance would be very relevant across all sectors, indeed, taking this forward.