ODI Fridays: Monitoring equality in public services – the value of protected characteristics

As more of our essential public and private sector services become digital it is vital that providers know exactly who is and isn’t using the services on offer. The only way to do that is to ask, but how can that be done in a meaningful, secure and anonymous way? A new report written by the ODI and funded by the Legal Education Foundation seeks to explain the problem digital services face, explore why and offer recommendations as to how the issue can be tackled by service designers, regulators and further research. Come and hear Dr Natalie Byrom Director of Research at LEF and Renate Samson Senior Policy Advisor at the ODI talk about this fascinating and critical subject. About the speakers Dr Natalie Byrom is Director of Research at The Legal Education Foundation where she leads work helping individuals to secure their rights. She has recently been seconded to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service as Expert Advisor on Open Data and Academic Engagement, Her remit includes evaluating the impact of technology focused court reform on access to and fairness of the justice system. Renate Samson is Senior Policy Advisor at the ODI. Renate works across a wide range of subjects at the ODI from data rights to open cities and data institutions. She is the project lead on the Monitoring Equality in Digital Public Services report.