# AI in the public sector and local government: the Playbook, transparency and fairness

*Ten principles, a public record of the tools you use, and the equality duty that applies to every one of them.*

## Production summary

- Modules to record: 2
- Total script: 682 words, about 5 minutes of finished audio
- Voices: Emma (host) and George (practice educator)
- Level: Civil servants, council officers, councillors, commissioners and public service managers

## Accreditation wording that must appear in the description

- **The CPD Certification Service** (planned): Application scheduled.
- **Artificial Intelligence Playbook for the UK Government** (aligned): Written against the Playbook of 10 February 2025 and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard guidance. Our own mapping, with no endorsement implied.

> Do not upgrade any of these words in a description or a thumbnail. Aligned is not accredited, and planned is not approved.


---

## The Playbook's ten principles, and being open about what you use

**Runtime** about 2 minutes. **Words** 347. **Starts at** 00:00 in the full course recording.

### Learning outcomes to state on camera

- Name the ten principles
- Explain meaningful human control
- State who must publish a transparency record
- Describe the two tiers of a record
- Say why a public record matters

### Script


`[CUE 1]` *Ten numbered statements on a card, with the fourth and sixth picked out*

**EMMA**  [00:00]
George, my council team's been offered an AI tool to sort housing repair requests. Where do I start?

**GEORGE**  [00:07]
With the Artificial Intelligence Playbook for the UK Government. Published on 10 February 2025 by the Government Digital Service. It's for departments and public sector organisations, and it has ten principles.

**EMMA**  [00:19]
Give me the ones I'll meet first.

**GEORGE**  [00:22]
The first. You know what AI is and what its limitations are. The second. You use AI lawfully, ethically and responsibly. And the fourth. You have meaningful human control at the right stages.


`[CUE 2]` *A caseworker clicking accept repeatedly, beside one who sees the inputs and changes an outcome*

**EMMA**  [00:35]
What does meaningful mean?

**GEORGE**  [00:37]
The Playbook says humans should validate any high-risk decisions influenced by AI. And there should be systems that let users report issues and prompt a human review.

**EMMA**  [00:48]
We'd have an officer approving each one.

**GEORGE**  [00:50]
Approving, or deciding? If they click accept two hundred times a day, that isn't control. They need to see what the tool was given, and have the time and the standing to disagree.


`[CUE 3]` *A map of the public sector with departments and arm's length bodies marked mandatory and councils marked recommended*

**EMMA**  [01:04]
Any principle people forget?

**GEORGE**  [01:05]
The sixth. You use the right tool for the job. Sometimes that isn't AI.

**EMMA**  [01:11]
Do we have to tell residents we're using it?

**GEORGE**  [01:14]
There's a standard for that. The Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard. A published record of the tool, what it does and why you use it.


`[CUE 4]` *A two tier record: a short plain summary on top and detailed sheets beneath*

**EMMA**  [01:24]
Is it compulsory for a council?

**GEORGE**  [01:26]
It's mandatory for all government departments, and for arm's length bodies that deliver public or frontline services or interact directly with the public. For the rest of the public sector it's recommended, and records from local government are welcomed.

**EMMA**  [01:42]
Which tools does it cover?

**GEORGE**  [01:44]
Those with a significant influence on a decision-making process with public effect, or that directly interact with the general public.


`[CUE 5]` *A resident reading a short public record about a tool used on their case*

**EMMA**  [01:52]
What does a record look like?

**GEORGE**  [01:54]
Two tiers. Tier one is a summary for the public, in clear and simple language. Tier two is fuller detail for specialists, like journalists and researchers.

**EMMA**  [02:05]
And if it isn't mandatory for us?

**GEORGE**  [02:07]
Draft tier one anyway. If you can't describe in two plain paragraphs what the tool does and why you chose it, you're not ready to use it.

### Sources for the on screen credit

- Artificial Intelligence Playbook for the UK Government (10 February 2025), Government Digital Service
- Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard: guidance for public sector bodies, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
- Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard: published records, GOV.UK

---

## Fairness, automated decisions and buying well

**Runtime** about 2 minutes. **Words** 335. **Starts at** 02:18 in the full course recording.

### Learning outcomes to state on camera

- Apply the public sector equality duty to an AI tool
- Keep a record that equality was considered
- State the safeguards for a solely automated decision
- Ask the right questions when procuring AI
- Bring the right colleagues in early

### Script


`[CUE 1]` *Section 149 on a page with three aims, and a supplier's unbiased badge set aside*

**EMMA**  [02:18]
George, the supplier says their tool is unbiased. Is that the end of my equality worry?

**GEORGE**  [02:25]
No, because the duty is yours. Section 149 of the Equality Act requires a public authority, in the exercise of its functions, to have due regard to eliminating discrimination and advancing equality of opportunity.

**EMMA**  [02:38]
Is buying software a function?

**GEORGE**  [02:40]
Choosing and using a tool is an exercise of functions. And due regard has to happen before and while you decide. Not afterwards.


`[CUE 2]` *A decision file containing a dated record of how equality was considered*

**EMMA**  [02:49]
How could a repairs tool discriminate?

**GEORGE**  [02:52]
A tool trained on past decisions can repeat past unfairness. And a detail like a postcode can stand in for a protected characteristic.

**EMMA**  [03:01]
What do I keep?

**GEORGE**  [03:03]
A record of how equality was considered. If the decision's challenged, that's how the council shows it had due regard.


`[CUE 3]` *Four organisations' names on the cover of a council procurement guide*

**EMMA**  [03:11]
Is there help written for councils?

**GEORGE**  [03:13]
Yes. In April 2025 the Local Government Association published a guide to procuring AI, with the London Office of Technology and Innovation, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Information Commissioner's Office.

**EMMA**  [03:26]
Who should I bring in?

**GEORGE**  [03:28]
It says the procurement team, an equality officer and the data protection officer. Early.


`[CUE 4]` *A resident's decision letter listing four safeguards*

**EMMA**  [03:34]
Suppose the tool decides on its own who gets a priority repair.

**GEORGE**  [03:39]
Then it's a solely automated decision with a significant effect. Since 5 February 2026 that's permitted on ordinary personal data, with safeguards.

**EMMA**  [03:47]
Which are?

**GEORGE**  [03:48]
The person must be told. They must be able to make representations, obtain human intervention and contest the decision.


`[CUE 5]` *A contract with six questions answered before the signature line*

**EMMA**  [03:56]
And before we go live?

**GEORGE**  [03:58]
A data protection impact assessment, alongside the equality analysis. Read together.

**EMMA**  [04:02]
What do I ask the supplier?

**GEORGE**  [04:05]
What it does, and on what data. How it was tested for bias, with the results. What happens to the data you put in. What you can see about each output. How you monitor it. And how you leave.

**EMMA**  [04:20]
And the contract?

**GEORGE**  [04:22]
Write in your right to the information you need for your own duties. The eighth principle of the Playbook is work with commercial colleagues from the start.

### Sources for the on screen credit

- Artificial Intelligence Playbook for the UK Government (10 February 2025), Government Digital Service
- Equality Act 2010, section 149, legislation.gov.uk
- LGA publishes guide to procuring AI, Local Government Lawyer, reporting the Local Government Association
- Automated decision making and profiling, Information Commissioner's Office

---

*Copyright WAJD Group. Built by WAJD AI.*