The Government Digital Service (GDS) has set out its principles for the development of the One Login service for central government.
It has published the principles, along with a guide what is being done for One Login to meet them, highlighting that they were developed independently of government by a group of representatives from charities, academia and other external stakeholders.
The move is the latest step in opening up the work on One Login, developed as a single form of identity verification for government services. It is currently being taken up a number of central government bodies for a range of digital services.
The principles cover:
- user control over identity assurance activities;
- transparency, so assurance only takes place in ways the user understands and when they are fully informed;
- multiplicity, being able to choose and use as many identifiers as wanted;
- data minimisation, so that interactions use the minimum data necessary;
- data quality, with the user choosing when to update their records;
- service user access and portability, providing the user with copies of all their data on request and enabling them to move or remove it when desired;
- certification against common governance requirements;
- dispute resolution through a third party;
- and exceptional circumstances, with any exception having to be approved by Parliament and subject to independent scrutiny.
“The nine principles assume that an identity assurance service is mature and well established,” the document says.
“However, in the early stages of a systems development, there may be a phasing-in period in relation to each principle, or a principle might need a degree of initial flexibility. Within a reasonable timeframe, all of these principles should be fully implemented by the identity assurance service.”
GDS said the principles are regularly reviewed by the One Login Inclusion and Privacy Advisory Group (OLIPAG).
In recent months GDS has revealed plans to work with HM Revenue and Customs on the beta phase of its use by the department, and published guidance for the public on setting up the service.
