Ian Cuddy

I'm hugely excited by this. Sir David Varney, Gordon Brown's personal advisor on Transformational Government and architect of the Government's approach to data sharing, personalised public services and transformation in general is to face his critics in a public debate next month.

In a rare public appearance, Sir David - a man with a whole agenda and industry named after him - will go head-to-head with, amongst others, none other than arch-nemesis Ian Brown, one of the authors of the Rowntree Database State report.

The discussion, going by the title of Data Sharing or Database State? takes place as part of this year's forthcoming Battle of Ideas festival.

All very timely too, given a whole new public discussion on government data sharing, public privacy and the implications of the 'transformational' agenda now seems to be taking shape. Even to the point where I turned on the TV the other day to see Philip Schofield moderating a debate about the Vetting and Barring Register on the This Morning sofa, as only he can.

Following the Government's point-blank dismissal of the Rowntree report, it's encouraging (if not nothing short of a miracle) to see very senior policy makers, for once, actually being willing to engage in public debate about data sharing, particularly at a forum such as Battle of Ideas.  It brings to mind a memorable moment last year at a Public Sector Forums conference on identity when Meg Hillier, the ID Cards minister at the time, pronounced:

"The debate has already happened, the 2006 [Identity Cards] Act is passed and further opposition is pointless"

– a view apparently not appreciated or endorsed by all those present.

So congrats to Jo Herlihy, organiser and chair of the Database State debate session for securing Sir David's attendance. This should definitely be one to watch. The only thing is, why do I get visions of Sir Bonar Neville-Kingdom addressing Open Tech 2009?