The Cabinet Office is seeking feedback on its proposed legislation to allow personal data to be shared with all public bodies.
The Central government’s One Login program to unify 190 sign-in processes across more than 44 department systems is set to be launched in 2023 after 3 years of development, costing more than £400 million.
The consultation will explore whether access to local government services and systems can also be protected by a secure method of authentication leveraging the inter-government user data.
With the exchange closing on 1st March 2023, the public sector are encouraged to provider feedback on the plans which would extend data sharing powers to more inter-government departments.
London local councils, top police officers and secretaries of state are among those specified in the data sharing act under Schedule 4 to use data intended for identity verification.
In addition to the added security protections, a centralised digital ID gateway would reduce face-to-face identity proofing and omit the need for identity documents for people who cannot afford a passport and/or driving licence or security document.
The impact of government-wide services using digital identity could benefit the economy by setting a precedent for private sector companies to adopt these technologies and streamline government operations.
The Cabinet Office stated its plans included “improving data sharing with stringent privacy and security measures in place is central to transforming the delivery and efficiency of public services and people’s ability to interact confidently with government in an increasingly digital world.”
Other public bodies will have to comply with collecting only the personal information which is required to identity the user under four categories of personal data – name, date of birth, address, email address and various identifiers.
