Category Archives: Data Science

Predicting Energy Efficiency across all Welsh Homes

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Post by Joseph HC, Data Science Unit, Welsh Government

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Information on the energy efficiency of homes across Wales is helpful for policy makers as evidence for fuel poverty, energy strategy and green initiative policies. In the Data Science Unit, we have been working on a project to build a stronger evidence base for the energy efficiency of Welsh homes.

The most up-to-date source of information available on the energy efficiency of homes is the Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) Register. The Register, however, only covers half of all homes in Wales and is overrepresented by newer, more energy efficient homes. This is because legislation was introduced in 2008 that made EPC surveys a mandatory requirement when selling or renting a property.

This blog describes how we have been using the register of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) to build a dataset that covers every residential property in Wales. This work builds on a project undertaken by the Office for National Statistics’ Data Science Campus: Using machine learning to predict energy efficiency | Data Science Campus.

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How Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help make online content easier to read

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Post by Joe, Data Science Unit, Welsh Government

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The Data Science Unit has recently been exploring potential uses of Generative AI. One project has developed a proof-of-concept tool that uses Generative AI to assist in editing text content. The aim of the tool was to:

  • support content designers in the Welsh Government by providing them a better draft to work from; and,
  • help everyone produce better content (we do not have enough content designers for all our content!)

The tool could save the content designers time, focus their skills on the more challenging problems and improve our written content.

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Can AI help find lost woodland?

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Post by Evie, Data Science Unit, Welsh Government

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There are many areas of Wales where woodland clearance has taken place, especially since the 19th century.  We define ‘lost historic woodland’ as areas of woodland that existed on historic maps but no longer exist today. These areas may be suitable for re-planting because the original soil is well suited for tree growth having an established root network and ecosystem. Finding these areas and targeting them could improve success rates of woodland creation or regeneration schemes and support delivery of key government targets, such as the National Forest for Wales. This blog describes how the Data Science Unit is using computer vision (a type of AI that works with images) to do this.

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Developing Data Science Skills

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Post by Steven, Data Science Unit, Welsh Government

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Data science is a key skill to transforming our work in Welsh Government, as we use it to modernise and automate data processes and help us to work efficiently, transparently and accurately. The data science unit has always been keen to help staff learn and improve their data science skills, and we have recently started two new initiatives to support this goal.

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Using Code to Automatically Style Charts for Publications

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Post by Joe & Aron, Data Science Unit, Welsh Government

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Welsh Government staff in the Knowledge and Analytical Services (KAS) spend many hours formatting their charts for publication, making sure font sizes are correct, colours follow the guidance and axes are labelled. The Data Science Unit has streamlined these processes by creating a code package written in R, known as “KASStylesR”. With KASStylesR, teams can produce publication-ready Welsh and English charts in a fraction of the time it would have taken before.

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Data Science projects: Identifying and describing clusters of deprivation

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While accurate and timely statistics have always been recognised as a key input to good quality decision and policy making within government, this past year has put data at the forefront of strategy and reporting in a new way due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The public appetite for data has risen and products such as data dashboards are being frequently used by people who may not have been actively engaged in data previously.

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Reflections from a new digital leader

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This week it’s Digital Leaders Week which felt like a good time to write my first blog as Chief Digital Officer in Welsh Government since I started in July (not quite the famous “100 first days” that politicians refer to but not far away). It’s been a whirlwind few months learning what is going on across the organisation and outside, and at the same time trying to take forward some key pieces of work which we think are important in terms of responding to the pandemic and getting ourselves ready for the future. As with many other work places we have of course primarily been working from home since March. This of course has huge benefits which have been well described over the past few months, but it does present a very different experience in starting a new job and not being able to have face to face contact with my new teams!

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