Use of automated decision-making and automated decision support tools

Dear Uttlesford District Council,

I am writing under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, to make a request for information relating to your organisation’s use of automated decision making and automated decision support tools and systems (ADM tools).

For the purposes of this request, an automated decision is one in which an automated system performs at least part of the decision-making process, including:

- Decision support: where an automated system provides additional information to aid a human decision-maker in their decisions (e.g. a system assesses whether someone poses a risk of housing benefit fraud, and presents that risk score to a decision maker to inform their decision)),

- Streaming or triage: where an automated system determines the type and quality of human judgment involved in a particular case (e.g. a system deems an individual’s application to present a high risk of housing benefit fraud, which means the application is directed to a particular team to review)

- Fully automated: where an automated system takes a decision and action in relation to a person or group without human input (e.g. a system automatically assesses and approves an application)

Automation refers to any form of automation including. but not limited to, data matching, profiling, machine learning or any other tools that use software algorithms to generate outputs.

Examples of ADM usage could include, for example, risk assessments in adult social care or social housing decisions.

Please provide the following:

1. Copies of any inventory that the authority has of tools, artificial intelligence or software algorithms used to assist in decision-making.

2. If not included in the above, the names of any such tools.

3. Where a process contains ADM or is partially supported by automated tools, any Equality Impact Assessments that have been carried out.

4. Where a process contains ADM or is partially supported by automated tools, any Data Protection Impact Assessments that have been carried out.

Yours faithfully,

Caroline Selman