A key priority for human service reform is data and research that drives investment and outcomes. Specifically, the need to both use and build evidence for what works, enabling improved data collection and sharing to inform activity.
Data and data-driven decision making, and investment is undoubtedly the key to success of commissioning, both now and in the future. Work is underway across government to strengthen data infrastructure and better use data to deliver public and community services. The ACT Digital Strategy sets out how we will use technology and data to grow Canberra as an inclusive, progressive, and connected city.
Historically, focus has often been on the systems or tool used to store and share data, and in the community sector, a standard approach is yet to be realised. In the meantime, our priority is shifting towards an agreed set of data, data standards, data consents, and methodologies for collection and storage, that enable integration, analysis, and comparison of the ‘same thing’.
Once this priority has been achieved, data sharing can be established which enables analysis of impact and outcomes based on common information.
Spending time together to define and understand data designs and standards has potential to build efficiency and evidence across human services systems. A key focus will be on data consent processes to ensure that data can be used for longitudinal research, linked to other data sets, and understood through the lens of wellbeing outcomes so that we can determine evidence of impact.
Work within the Sector Sustainability Project will contribute to this thinking, alongside other developments such as agreements within Government to share data, and ACT participation in a national project to establish the Life Course Data Asset in collaboration with the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Over time this will enable ACT Government to better understand impact and share insights with the NGO sector so that we can collectively improve evidence of what works to improve wellbeing of Canberrans.
Learn more about the 2030 human service reform priorities
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Page updated: 07 Mar 2024
