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Government-backed experiment in data access and safety-technology evaluation
The Online Safety Data Initiative was a fifteen-month UK Shared Outcomes Fund programme intended to improve access to data for safety-technology development. Government worked with industry participants and a delivery consortium including Faculty and PUBLIC, while PA Consulting was appointed as an external programme evaluator.
The programme's June 2021 discovery account listed 23 candidate data-access solutions awaiting shortlisting, drawing on interviews, industry workshops and a Whitehall roundtable. A government expert group advised scope and legally robust stewardship. PUBLIC subsequently described an OSDI sandbox prototype prepared for government review and testing, and credited OSDI practices in later evaluation work. The product-development strand and PA's programme-assurance role were separate. The retained material establishes these activities and proposals, but does not include the original evaluation framework, complete pilot results or government acceptance certificate.
PA Consulting → Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI
Governmentaccount saysDCMS agreedwithPA incollaborationwithFaculty/PUBLIC. This is described processagreement, not unilateral supplierapproval or acquiredcontract.
Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI → OSDI23 candidate solutions — June2021 longlist
2021-06-02
Discoveryinterviews,OSTIAworkshops andWhitehallroundtable;23candidate solutions awaitedshortlisting. No individualproposalacceptance or bindingtaxonomy.
OSDI Online Harms Expert Group — July2021 → Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI
Government says group had encouraged userexperience emphasis; actualminutes,whichadvice accepted and approvalinstrument not obtained.
Faculty Science Limited → Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI
Officialdescription/PAaccount namesFaculty/PUBLICconsortium; no CDDPcontractorcrosswalk or project-specificcash inferred.
PUBLIC — programme/supplier brand → Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI
Same official OSDIconsortium; scope andsupplieridentity notproofPUBLICheldredactedCDDPsubcontract.
Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI → Safety Tech Challenge Fund Round2 evaluation —2024
PUBLICcreditsOSDIalongsideotherinputs; criteria includeperformance,robustness,scalability,privacy/security,userfeedback. OriginalOSDIframework notlinked, footnote17homepageonly.
OSDI TRL4 evaluation sandbox — PUBLIC account → Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI
PUBLICproduct-evaluation strand separate fromPAprogrammeassurance; reported200plusinterviews/3roundtables broader period thanearly70discoveryinterviews, notsummed.
Queries used: "Online Safety Data Initiative" "PA Consulting" evaluation report ; "Online Safety Data Initiative" "evaluation framework" ; site:gov.uk "Online Safety Data Initiative" evaluation results ; "OSDI" "evaluation" "PA Consulting" report ; and "Online Safety Data Initiative" "evaluation" "final" report . These returned the evaluator announcement, programme planning/longlist material, the retained supplier service definition, sector/data reviews and the STCF2 report. Search-result references to other work do not establish that work was read. Root owns the newer Data Landscape Review; no parallel reread or new branch was started here.
Read the research & sources ↗OSDI evaluation output: bounded public-source pass ↗
The advisory route into a government-funded safety-technology programme ↗
OSDI Online Harms Expert Group — July2021 → advises scope direction and legally robust data stewardship → Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI
Government says group had encouraged userexperience emphasis; actualminutes,whichadvice accepted and approvalinstrument not obtained.
Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI → published candidate solutions from discovery input → OSDI23 candidate solutions — June2021 longlist
2021-06-02
Discoveryinterviews,OSTIAworkshops andWhitehallroundtable;23candidate solutions awaitedshortlisting. No individualproposalacceptance or bindingtaxonomy.
Faculty Science Limited → is named in the delivery consortium → Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI
Officialdescription/PAaccount namesFaculty/PUBLICconsortium; no CDDPcontractorcrosswalk or project-specificcash inferred.
PUBLIC — programme/supplier brand → is named in the delivery consortium → Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI
Same official OSDIconsortium; scope andsupplieridentity notproofPUBLICheldredactedCDDPsubcontract.
PA Consulting → had responsibilities and priorities agreed with government and consortium → Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI
Governmentaccount saysDCMS agreedwithPA incollaborationwithFaculty/PUBLIC. This is described processagreement, not unilateral supplierapproval or acquiredcontract.
OSDI TRL4 evaluation sandbox — PUBLIC account → is identified as the programme case study → Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI
Reported by the cited source
PUBLICproduct-evaluation strand separate fromPAprogrammeassurance; reported200plusinterviews/3roundtables broader period thanearly70discoveryinterviews, notsummed.
Online Safety Data Initiative — OSDI → is expressly credited as a source of evaluation practices → Safety Tech Challenge Fund Round2 evaluation —2024
Reported by the cited source
PUBLICcreditsOSDIalongsideotherinputs; criteria includeperformance,robustness,scalability,privacy/security,userfeedback. OriginalOSDIframework notlinked, footnote17homepageonly.