The government is drawing up plans to create a data standard for
recording personal and commercial names in a bid to reduce the
confusion caused by names being stored in different formats.
The new data standard, which is being developed by the British
Standards Institute in partnership with central and local
government, will also underpin the delayed nationally searchable
Local Authorities' Secure Electoral Register.
The recording of a person's name in different formats across
government departments can have serious consequences in areas such
as social services if crucial information is not shared promptly
across agencies to protect vulnerable members of the
community.
Backers of the name data standard also said that it would make it
easier for IT professionals to develop new systems. The standard
will be along similar lines to existing specifications for street
and address data which underpin the national street and land and
property gazetteers.
Robert Walker, chairman of the BSI committee responsible for
developing the standard, said, "Now everyone captures name data
differently and the problem is that an input system that looks in a
database cannot find the names."
The standard for names will define the fields for recording names,
making it easier to write new systems and applications,
particularly when using internet data transfer standard XML.
"Like all these things if you have a standard specification for
things it gives you compatibility and saves on development
costs."
The institute will publish the specifications of the proposed name
standard in a few months. Representatives from the Office of
E-envoy and Department of Health are also on the BSI
committee.
BSI and the naming game
The BSI standard for addresses,
BS7666, is used to support the National Street Gazetteer and NLPG.
Although the BSI is a voluntary standard, local government is under
pressure to use it as best practice.
Experts believe the BSI address and name data standards have
significant potential to ensure that relevant government services
are delivered to the right people.