Information on dependents and Senior Vice-Minister data connections Project Team (2nd)

Overview

Date and Time: Friday, January 21, 2022 (2022) from 8:50 to 9:30
Location: Online
Agenda:
1. Opening
2. Proceedings
  1. Support by linking various data on dependents demonstration projects
  2. Status of discussions by the Cabinet Office Study Group
  3. Introduction of Leading Cases
  4. Exchange of opinions
3. Adjournment

Conference Video

The conference is available on YouTube (Digital Agency official channel).

Materials

References

Relevant policies

Dependents

Related Information

An outline of support dependents through the cooperation of various data on demonstration projects was announced.

Summary of proceedings

Date

From 8:50 to 9:30 on Friday, January 21, 2022 (2022)

Location

Online Meetings

Attendees

Fumiaki Kobayashi (Senior Vice Minister of Digital)
AKAIKE Masaaki
Hidemichi Sato (Vice-Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare)
Yoshitaka Ikeda (Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
Taro Yamada (Parliamentary Vice-Minister Minister for Digital Transformation)
Officials from other relevant ministries and agencies (Digital Agency, Cabinet Secretariat, Cabinet Office, Personal Information Protection Commission Secretariat, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT))

Summary of proceedings

(1) Support dependents through cooperation of various data on demonstration projects

Based on Material 1, Digital Agency explained the following about the support dependents by the cooperation of various data on demonstration projects.

Data connections and push-type support in the dependents field are positioned in the Basic Policies on the New Promotion System of the digital society Policy and Priority plan toward the realization of dependents.
The purpose of this project is to utilize data from various related organizations in education, welfare, medical care, etc., to discover dependents that truly need support, and to connect it to efforts to provide support according to needs.
It is not assumed that the government will build a database to manage information on the dependents in an integrated manner. It is assumed that various information held by each organization will be managed in a distributed manner, and cooperation across fields in the local government and cooperation between related organizations will be demonstrated.
At present, as for the architecture related to dependents, various departments have various information, so we will make good use of such information. In addition, rather than using all of this information comprehensively, we would like to narrow down the data items necessary for demonstration projects during data connections by the time of the summary of issues scheduled for this summer.
Regarding the ideal system and system for realizing data connections in local government, in order to validation (1) the pattern of creating a department that comprehensively understands and (2) the pattern of data connections without integrating departments, demonstration projects will be held next fiscal year after soliciting participating local government.

(2) Status of review by the Cabinet Office Study Group

Based on Material 2, the Cabinet Office explained the status of the study in the Cabinet Office Study Group as follows, and then introduced the precedent cases in local government.

Since April 2021, the Cabinet Office has held a study group on poverty with the aim of providing outreach support to dependents, which basically has data connections. Although no conclusion has been reached at this point, we would like to report on it.
As a main issue, for example
(I) Regarding data items, is the collection method to use existing data or to collect new original data? Is the nature of the data limited to objective data or to use subjective data?
(ii) Flow from data utilization to outreach support.
(iii) How will the data-utilizing organizational system be handled?
④ In relation to personal data protection, what is required as a legal allowance?
⑤ As promotion measures, how will support be provided to local government?
And so forth.
In the case of using existing data, we took a questionnaire on what kind of data each local government nationwide has, so we report it as a standard.
Based on law, etc., data that is expected to be held in local government is being organized with the cooperation of Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
The following comments were raised by members of the Study Group during the discussion on data items: "It is possible to find a considerable number of dependents eligible for support only in the three items of the status of use of public assistance, the status of use of school expense assistance, and the status of payment of school lunch and teaching material expenses.", "It should be recognized that there are families who do not want people to know about the use of the system and families who do not apply because they feel it is troublesome.", "There is a considerable resistance to sharing information such as learning results outside school.", "Data utilization should start with life-threatening matters and be advanced step by step.", "Data access should be limited to experts with confidentiality obligations, such as school social workers.", and "Learning habits are strongly correlated with economic poverty, but it is difficult for schools to grasp them."
The main opinions of the members of the Study Group on data connections are as follows: "How about sorting out the basic items for data connections in a unified manner and the optional items for data connections at will?", "Starting with data connections at the compulsory education stage that can be grasped within the basic local government, cooperation with the pre-school stage and after entering high school and cooperation with other local government should be advanced step by step while observing the effects.", "When considering the data connections at the time of moving and the comparison over time, it is desirable to use data objectively, but the subjective evaluation of field employees should also be used in some form.", "Consideration for the burden on field employees and cooperation with business systems should also be considered.", and "The storage period of data, response to deletion requests and disclosure requests, etc. should also be considered."
To summarize the precedent cases of data utilization in local government, it is considered that the basic flow of data utilization is to perform the primary screening mainly by digital processing, automatically determine the persons requiring support, and narrow down the persons by analog work in the next stage, and then examine the support policies and connect to the support.

(3) Introduction of prior cases

Based on Attachment 3, Digital Agency, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) introduced the precedent cases in local government and other prefectures.

(4) Exchange of opinions

Senior Vice-Minister of the

Information on education, welfare, etc. is the ultimate personal data of the people, and there is an aspect that we do not want it to be known as much as possible. Consistency with personal data Protection law needs to be examined in line with the awareness of the people. From the example of Mino City, I think that it may be easy to obtain understanding if we start from the needy based on objective data.
It is also important to carefully consider who will hold the linked data and the scope of access to the data. It is also important to consider the future, for example, if the data held by local government is moved, the support will not be interrupted.
It is important to send a message that this trial will lead to support for the consideration and burden on the field such as school and welfare.
Regarding data connections, the understanding of the people, including dependents, families, schools, and welfare sites, is a major premise. However, since Issue is an ongoing project, it is necessary to determine how early it will be advanced from what is feasible.
In the study group of the Cabinet Office, we would like to share the status of discussions and information on demonstration projects using the FY 2021 supplementary budgets, mainly in Digital Agency, and to promote close cooperation while listening to the opinions of experts and people on the ground.
The Cabinet Office would like to further consider the specific utilization measures of the system as a whole, including Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), and Digital Agency, which are responsible for the field of support, because the concrete connection of the new mechanism to the support of dependents and households will also lead to the support of the field.
We recognize that today's discussion by the project team is one of the most important issues in the discussions on the Children and Families Agency Establishment Law, which is scheduled to be submitted to this Diet session, and the dependents Basic Law, which is separately under consideration, and we will continue to work together to advance these issues.

Satoh Vice-Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare

In FY 2020, more than 200,000 cases of children's abuse consultation were handled, and it is required to prevent abuse or to accurately take measures such as temporary protection in cases where abuse is actually suspected, and to determine the necessity through assessment.
Although the system of Child Guidance Centers is being strengthened, the ratio of inexperienced staff is increasing and family problems are becoming more complex. Therefore, quality improvement and efficiency of services are required.
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare recognizes that it is necessary to develop a judgment system using AI and to build a consultation system on SNS at an early stage, and is conducting hearings from local government and others for design.
The expected effects of the system using AI are to improve the quality of judgment for temporary protection measures by providing support using AI especially to inexperienced employees, and to achieve efficiency of services including relevant services such as shortening of business hours from notification to recording.
On the other hand, the Issue points out that there may be a difference between the judgment of AI and the sense of veteran employees, that sufficient accumulation and quality assurance are necessary because analysis by AI requires analysis of past data, and that standardization, introduction, and operation of data require considerable costs.
A tool to determine the urgency of temporary protection using AI is included in the fiscal 2021 supplementary budget.
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is making efforts not only to respond to incidents that may cause abuse but also to prevent abuse. In order to make it easier for dependents and families to consult, each local government is currently implementing system development in order to build a new mechanism to respond to consultations via SNS. Operating expenses, etc. are included in the supplementary budget for fiscal 2021.
In order to prevent child abuse, it is important to improve the efficiency of work by using digital tools. We will continue to advance our efforts based on the example of local government, which is implementing advanced measures.

Ikeda Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

For the Issue such as poverty and abuse, it is important to understand the situation of dependents and family difficulties and to ensure that the necessary support will be delivered. It is necessary to further enhance the cooperation between the education Department and the welfare Department in each local government.
It is important to ensure that data related to the education Bureau can be used by schools and the education Committee, and to link it to specific actions and support.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is conducting studies to extract common items and ways of thinking about data to be used, in order to develop environments in which data can be effectively used by schools and education committees. education is also promoting standardization of data so that data can be mutually linked between different systems.
There are concerns that the government will centralize the management of education data such as learning history. However, we believe that it will be possible to promote the use of such data in each local government where we actually provide support by enabling mutual cooperation of data instead of centralized management by the government.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) will continue to collect and disseminate good practices and improve data utilization environments in order to promote data utilization at schools and welfare Committee, while looking forward to cooperation between the education Department and the education Department.

Senior Vice-Minister for

This project is symbolic as a project in which Digital Agency was established in the government and Digital Agency will promote it together with each ministry.
The most important mission of Digital Agency is to support the Cabinet Office and each Ministry, local government, and the field so that they can demonstrate their original abilities. At the same time, as the control tower of the digital field, we can share and advance together toward a broad direction where each Ministry tends to be partially optimal if we do it alone, and I think this project will realize it.
There are concerns that the national government will manage information on dependents in an integrated manner and that a database will be built, but such a thing is never considered.
While creating the cases in local government as introduced today, in order to examine the necessary ways to expand to local government throughout Japan, we have allocated support demonstration projects through the cooperation of various data on dependents in the supplementary budget for fiscal 2021.
What is important in promoting measures is to clarify the purpose of "what data connections is for," and in order to promote consideration, the Cabinet Office and each Ministry introduced leading cases in local government, etc.
In the Osaka Mino City, as a result of comprehensive judgment based on the three elements of "judgment of poverty," "judgment of academic ability," and "judgment of non-cognitive ability," 25% of the subjects of support were Nomak persons who were not recognized even in schools, etc., and it was possible to find people in poverty who could not be found until now.
In Mie Prefecture, AI analysis and prediction are helping inexperienced child consultation center staff make decisions.
The city of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), which was introduced by Osaka City, links data on life situations and learning situations, such as changes in physical conditions and home environments, and "mental weather" input by students, and uses it for early detection of problems.
Data connections in dependents should not be a means to select dependents for inappropriate data utilization. It should be positioned as a means to detect SOS that is likely to be overlooked by only one department or organization and to support the judgment of officials of local government and related organizations who are engaged in support for personal data by linking data scattered in various departments and organizations with consideration for the protection of dependents.
We would like to start the survey and research project as much as possible within this fiscal year and present a certain direction before the compilation of issues scheduled around May or June this year, based on the progress of the study by the use cases Study Group.
As for the demonstration of data connections in local government, we would like to start the project based on the data items after inviting applications for local government within this fiscal year.
In implementation, we will closely cooperate with the Cabinet Office and each Ministry working on data connections policy so that it will lead to actual support and action for dependents and households that truly need support from dependents.

End