The availability of large government datasets, and the tools to link and analyse them, offer huge potential for governments to improve the delivery and implementation of public services. Enabling this step-change in the way we use data requires not only that new techniques be developed to link and analyse datasets but also that governments consider the accessibility of their data for research and the challenges this poses in terms of public acceptability.

This first workshop for the Data Science and Policy policy challenge took place in December 2014, for a summary of the workshop 'Big Data and Policy' please click here.

These themes were explored further in the PHG Foundation seminars Using data in healthcare: policy and practice on 9 December 2014, and "Privacy, public interest, and the future of healthcare research" on 20 January 2015. The final workshop was held on 20 March 2015 with Tech UK, on the Internet of Things.

The policy briefing resulting from the Data Science policy challenge was launched at the international conference "Policy making in an era of big data" in Cambridge on 15 June 2015. This briefing brings together views from authorities in academia, policy and practice on present and future priorities for policy in data science. You can download a copy of the briefing here.