About the Human Services Dataset

Find out about the Human Services Dataset and our partnerships.

Background

Tune Review – Their Futures Matter Reform

The 2015 Independent Review of Out of Home Care, led by David Tune AO PSM, examined the state of Out of Home Care in NSW.

The review outlined a vision for a whole-of-system reform to deliver improved outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and families. This recommendation was approved by Cabinet in August 2016 and led to the establishment of the Their Futures Matter (TFM) reform.

The TFM Reform used data and evidence to understand, prioritise and evaluate supports for children, young people and families in NSW with the highest needs. The Project is about:

• Bringing together a large volume of data from NSW Government agencies about service use
• De-identifying and analysing the data to understand which population groups are most at risk of poor outcomes
• Designing or enhancing support for these priority groups in collaboration with agency partners.

The work of the TFM reform was based on data and evidence, which is comprosed within a dataset, known as the Human Services Dataset (HSDS). The HSDS contains records about children, young people and families, from across government. These records include child protection, housing, justice, health and mental health, and education.

It is anticipated that the HSDS asset will be increasingly accessed in the future.

About the Human Services Dataset

The Human Services Dataset (HSDS) contains de-identified data collected through the administration of different NSW Government services and some Commonwealth Government supports (i.e. welfare and medical benefits). Information such as  names, dates of birth and addresses are removed to ensure the data do not identify individuals and privacy is protected. Therefore, the integrated dataset contains completely anonymous records.

The HSDS is unprecedented in scale in NSW, containing information from all NSW residents born on or after 1 January 1990 (the Primary Cohort) and their relatives (i.e. family members, guardians and carers – the Secondary Cohort).

The data is protected by laws and measures that guard privacy and keep the data secure, including a comprehensive framework of security controls and standards. The HSDS is stored securely with the NSW Data Analytics Centre and is accessible to approved users only.

Key entities

The key entities in relation to the Human Services Dataset (HSDS) are:

• NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) – The Secretary of DCJ is Chair of the Stronger Communities Data Partnership and has overriding custodianship, control and responsibility for data that enters the HSDS. The Data Custodian is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Public Interest Direction and Health Public Interest Direction (PIDs); responding to data breaches and notifying the NSW Privacy Commissioner where appropriate. Presently the Secretary’s role as Data Custodian has been delegated to the Deputy Secretary, Strategy, Policy and Commissioning.
• Stronger Communities Data Partnership (SCDP) – Provides governance over the HSDS in accordance with legislative and the requirements of the PIDs.
• Human Services Dataset Governance Advisory Committee (HSDGAC) – Advises Family and Community Services Insights Analysis and Research (FACSIAR) and the Data Custodian on the use, refresh and expansion of data for the HSDS, as well as security issues, privacy requirements, project proposals and ethics processes relating to the data.
• Project Team (FACSIAR) – The unit is responsible for defining data collection and use parameters, project management, briefing to the HSDGAC and the SCDP, and supporting the Data Custodian in providing privacy and data governance for the HSDS.
• Data Partners – Departments and agencies that provide data for the project, identify data limitations, process data, provide resources, and receive aggregated data results for the purposes of program development. The Data Partners include:
  • Department of Communities and Justice, including the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research and Youth Justice NSW
  • NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages
  • Legal Aid NSW
  • NSW Police Force
  • Ministry of Health
  • Department of Education
  • NSW Education Standards Authority
  • Revenue NSW.
• Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL) – the Data Linkage Centre, responsible for data linkage for the Project.
• NSW Data Analytics Centres (DAC) – the Data Host.

DCJ and its contracted entities must comply with specific privacy, data sharing and records legislation, and with relevant NSW Government frameworks and policies.