The minutes for each meeting of the Data Ethics Advisory Group from 2026, grouped by date, are summarised here.
Meeting summaries from 2019 to 2022
Advisory Group Members: Professor Colin Simpson (Chair), Andrew Sporle, Russell Craig, Kate O’Connor, Will Koning, Jonathan Kilgour
Apologies: Jonathan Godfrey
Attendees: Social Investment Agency, Stats NZ
Facilitators: Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI)
The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation facilitated a workshop with the Data Ethics Advisory Group (DEAG) and the Social Investment Agency (SIA) to explore ethical considerations across the social investment approach. Participants discussed the importance of doing good while doing no harm, how to build genuine partnerships with communities, support informed consent, and ensure people understand how their data will be used. The group highlighted the importance of trust, transparency, and social licence throughout commissioning, data collection, analysis, and use of insights.
Across the stages of the social investment approach, participants identified areas where ethical guidance and support would be valuable. These included improving transparency about data use and quality, addressing potential bias, and ensuring communities are involved in shaping measurements and interpreting findings. The workshop also highlighted the value of independent peer review and evaluation to strengthen trust and quality.
The group emphasised a need for learning systems that support safe, transparent, and adaptable approaches. This included involving service users in oversight, publishing insights safely, creating feedback loops to improve practice over time, and driving system change. DEAG members discussed ways they could support this work, including linking SIA with experts to assist with peer review and evaluation.