Written question asked by Jo Platt (Labour) on Monday, 14 October 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 17 October 2019 (named day). It was answered by Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative) on Thursday, 17 October 2019 on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

Public Sector: Databases

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the call for public sector application programming interfaces will include the interoperability of databases containing citizens' data.

Answer: There is an increased desire for standards and guidance for application programming interfaces (APIs) due to their increasing popularity and the benefits they offer to departments and their users.

APIs are being used more frequently within government because they assist the interoperability of databases in an affordable and user-friendly way.

While APIs allow interoperability to enable data sharing, in government they are programmed to only share small subsections of data or “attributes”, thereby protecting identity and limiting the specific data available.

Secondary information