In July 2015, the Oversight Board endorsed amendments to the Scope of the Commonwealth arrangements for data integration.
A project is now in scope if it meets all of the following criteria:
1) is statistical and research in nature;
That is, integration for non-statistical purposes (such as delivery of services to particular individuals, compliance monitoring, incident investigation or regulatory purposes) is out of scope as these activities have different processes and legislative requirements governing them.
AND
2) has cross portfolio status;
That is, involves two or more data custodians, where at least one is Commonwealth.
AND
3) involves users beyond the Commonwealth data custodian(s) participating in the project;
For example, the intended use by other Commonwealth agencies, state& territory governments, academic researchers or the public.
AND
4) derives a benefit from the application of the Commonwealth data integration arrangements.
That is, utilising a structured framework to maximise the use of public data assets, safeguard privacy and maintain trust in Government around managing data appropriately for statistical and research purposes.
Note: Where a data integration project is assessed as high risk post mitigation (see Risk framework) the integrating authority must be accredited.
Once approved all in scope projects should be registered on the Public Register of data integration projects.
Other topics in this section regarding the Commonwealth arrangements for statistical data integration are:
- Scope of the Commonwealth Arrangements
- Risk framework
- Legal and policy considerations
- Accreditation
- The separation principle
- Data security
- Data management
- Data breaches