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Guidance

Identify and record critical data assets

Find out what critical data assets are in a cross-government context, why they matter, and how to report them.

Updates to this page

From:
Government Digital Service
Published:
28 November 2023
Last updated:
16 April 2026
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  1. Replaced the guidance on Essential Shared Data Assets with guidance about critical data assets. Removed the guidance about data ownership in government and recording metadata to describe critical data assets – these are now available on separate pages.

  2. Replaced the document: Template for Essential Shared Data Assets Final Returns, with the latest version. Added a new document: Information Sheet for Data Owners

  3. Added the document: Template for Essential Shared Data Asset Initial Returns

  4. First published.

Documents

Identifying and recording critical data assets

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Critical data assets are crucial both to your organisation and other parts of the public sector. Defining them will help your organisation manage risk, avoid duplication of effort and realise the full value of your data.

This guidance explains how to identify and record your organisation’s critical data assets that are shared with other government organisations.

The guidance is mandatory for UK central government departments and arm’s length bodies (ALBs), and optional for public corporations.

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