An Update on the Cross Government Approach to Vulnerability

by Shelley Heckman, Published 30 July 2024

Progress has been made by the

cross-government working group ⁠

which was formed to look into the challenges around public sector data interoperability that impede the identification and provision of support and services to vulnerable households and develop common solutions to address them. In the

last blog ⁠

about the work of this group, we talked about how they had defined their work as product specifications into three areas: 1) Modelling, 2) Terminology, and 3) Enabling. This blog is an update on the work of this group that SAVVI (Scalable Approach to Vulnerability via Interoperability) is supporting the

Data Standards Authority⁠

to convene.

Product Specification 1: Modelling

The working group agreed to form subgroups to proceed on three thematic deliverables described in the product specifications as laid out in our last blog on this subject. Since then work has progressed on pulling together a subgroup to work on modelling vulnerability. This group is led by NHS Digital, with members from Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), Central Data & Digital Office (CDDO), Scottish Government, Local Government Association (LGA), The HM Treasury (HMT), Department for Education (DfE), Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Improvement Service.

The ultimate goal for the modelling subgroup is to have an agreed concept model for vulnerabilities that is relevant, applicable and useful across the sector. The proposed conceptual model, that the subgroup has been working on, has been informed by the work done by the SAVVI project. The proposed concept model articulates how different phases from the SAVVI model link together to support multi agency collaboration. The value of this concept model is threefold:

It can be the foundation for a detailed logical model

It can identify where taxonomies can define shared terminology for data sharing

It can give a structure for discoverability and catalogues of successful patterns

This proposed concept model was put forward by the sponsor of the modelling subgroup to the cross-government working group which met on 27 February 2024. At the meeting, there was broad agreement that there would be value on members of the working group to test the proposed conceptual model by building vulnerability use-cases and scenarios against a template. This will help to understand whether the conceptual model is broad enough to apply across different Departments and gather different examples to build a library of use-cases. Since that meeting, the DSA has been working with Government departments on a one-to-one basis to support them in the building of the Departmental vulnerability scenarios. The aim is to reconvene at a later date to assess the suitability of the conceptual model and its supporting documentation.

Product Specification 2: Terminology

With the work of the Modelling sub group underway, the larger working group has agreed that it is time to commence the formation and work of the Terminology subgroup. The work of this group will commence once a working conceptual model has been identified, because the model will inform the work on taxonomies, allowing the exploration of vulnerability scenarios that are identified by the modelling working group using pre-defined parameters.

The work of this subgroup will mainly look at taxonomies for vulnerabilities. The proposed deliverable would look at selecting concepts from the concept model that could potentially become the class of a taxonomy and could be grouped in a list that would support a vulnerability scenario. Key to the success of this is to re-use and build on existing taxonomies and indicators for vulnerabilities.

DSA colleagues are currently identifying a sponsor for this group, and are starting to contact those individuals that have expressed an interest in being part of this sub working group.

Find Out More & Get Involved

The cross-government working group is open to all Government departments, and we welcome interest from Departments or other public sector stakeholders working in this space that are not currently engaged. To find out more about this work, please contact the

Data Standards Authority⁠

Whilst the working group is not open to suppliers and vendors, SAVVI welcomes interest from Industry. Suppliers to the public sector to support vulnerability work are encouraged to join the SAVVI Tech working group, led by techUK, to engage with this conversation. Please

contact techUK⁠

for more information.