Tag Archives: nottingham

Digital – making the case for investment within local government

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By Steven McGinty

In March, a report by Nesta and the Public Service Transformation Network suggested that local councils could save £14.7 billion by going ‘digital by default’ by 2020, i.e. moving all transactional services online and digitising back office functions.

However, this is not the first report to highlight the potential savings in going digital. In 2015, the Policy Exchange think tank published a report outlining how £10 billion could also be saved by councils by 2020, if they made smarter use of data and technology. Similarly, the Local Government Association (LGA) has published guidance on the benefits of digital technologies for councils, including financial savings.

All these documents make the positive case for digital. Yet, as discussed in a previous blog article, local government is still lagging behind when it comes to implementing new technologies. Jos Creese, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Hampshire County Council and Chair of the Local CIO Council, explains that:

“It’s doubtful if any local authority is not making savings from digital investment. The challenge is being able to quantify savings.”

This suggests that if local government is ever going to achieve its ambition of becoming ‘’digital by default’, then attempts must be made to evaluate projects, to develop a strong evidence base, and to share examples of best practice. Below I’ve highlighted some projects which provide a strong case for investment.

Manchester City Council

In 2012, Manchester City Council decided to create a more responsive ‘mobile first’ website that citizens could access from free Wi-Fi spots around the city via smartphones and tablets. The website was developed by an integrated team comprising IT and marketing staff from Manchester City Council, and developers from the supplier. From the beginning, the team reviewed how people interacted with the council, such as how they asked for services and how they reported problems. The website was tested by members of the public, as well as accessibility experts and representatives from organisations representing blind and partially sighted people.

This website redesign has led to Manchester City Council saving £500,000 in the first nine months and winning a European award for website design and functionality.

Nottingham City Council

Nottingham City Council has introduced a workflow management app, replacing an inefficient paper-based system. The new app allows staff from customer services, highway inspectors and response teams to enter faults, such as potholes or damaged street lights, directly into the system. It then automatically allocates the fault to the relevant inspector and, once the work is completed, digitally signs it off. Residents are also kept informed via updates, as the progress of the work is linked to the initial order raised.

The council has reported that the app has created £100,000 in savings in less than one year. In addition, the improved monitoring of productivity has led to 40% field efficiency savings and 60% back office savings in the Highways department.

London Borough of Camden

In 2013, the London Borough of Camden introduced a programme to create a single source of residents’ data. The Camden Residents Index (CRI) used a technological solution to match different types of data with individual residents (allowing the council to have a single point of view for each resident’s data).

The CRI has been used for a number of purposes, including detecting fraud and managing the electoral roll. For instance, the index was able to identify 752 council properties that could have been illegally sublet. The council estimated that a quarter of these properties were reclaimed, saving approximately £18,000 per property and £3.4 million in total. The CRI was also able to validate 80% of data from the electoral roll (which is higher than the 50% rate of the Department for Work and Pensions, which usually validates the council’s electoral data). This increased match rate resulted in less manual checking, which saved Camden council £25,000.

Poole County Council

Poole Borough Council has recently moved towards using cloud-based services. They highlighted three main drivers for this change: complying with the Cabinet Office’s Cloud First Directive; improving the agility of services; and making the necessary savings to the information and communications technologies (ICT) budget. The move has already saved the council £60,000; with an additional £750,000 worth of savings possible over the next three years.

Conclusion

Local council leaders may be anxious about making the case for investment, but investing in digital should be considered as a necessity, rather than a luxury, for meeting growing citizen demands with fewer resources.

These are just a few, of the many examples, of how local councils have benefited from digital transformation.

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Further reading: if you liked this blog post, you might also want to read our other posts on digital. 

Grey men dreaming of vibrant cities?

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Image by Neil Howard under Creative Commons

Image of MediaCity, Manchester by Neil Howard under Creative Commons

By Morwen Johnson

They control combined budgets of over £10bn, deliver 24.4% of the combined economic output of England, Scotland and Wales, and are home to over 21 million people. What are they? The Core Cities of the UK – and as pre-election lobbying ramps up a gear they are at the forefront of the devolution debate.

Last week I attended the Core Cities Devolution Summit. This event, hosted in Glasgow, marked the launch of a modern charter for local freedom. It also gave those interested in the current cities agenda a chance to hear from the city leaders on the potential benefits of reform.

I won’t summarise the charter, or the main recommendations of a new report from ResPublica which argues for the fullest possible devolution of public spending and tax raising powers to the UK’s largest cities and city regions. Instead, here are a few reflections on the day.

Bespoke devolution

The hype over Manchester’s recent devolution agreement with the Treasury shouldn’t distract from the fact that devolution is not a one-size-fits-all model. The idea isn’t to try and mimic Manchester’s journey – what’s on the cards is an approach that takes account of local circumstances.

I’m not sure that the end result of this – potentially radically different priorities in revenue generation, service delivery and spending between neighbouring metropolitan areas – is being communicated in a transparent way. Ben Page from IpsosMori shared some interesting survey results which suggest that public opinion also lags behind the political agenda:

ipsos survey 1

ipsos survey 2Leadership not bureaucracy

Mention devolution and one of the immediate responses of naysayers is to complain it’s just yet another layer of governance – more costs, more staff, more vested interests. This was raised during Q&A and the panel responded by saying that what they are proposing doesn’t require massive reorganisation – it’s about effective leadership. The same pots of money are used but funds can be accessed in different ways for different purposes.

This was only half-convincing. Repeated reference to place-based decision-making (breaking down functional /organisational silos to ensure services are focused on outcomes and those residents with complex needs) didn’t really explain how you build the trust and political capacity that’s needed to roll out transformation across multiple agencies/workforces at the same speed and scale.

Equalities

Presenting a different perspective on the day was Professor Lesley Sawers, who highlighted the risks of unintended consequences from devolution in terms of social justice and inequalities. She argued that so far localism has led to an approach to investment that has not been particularly effective in tackling equalities issues.

Cities should be great agents of social reform but the rhetoric around growth has a tendency to focus on infrastructure and macroeconomics – ignoring social challenges such as skills, poverty and under-achievement. And it may seem an easy point to score, but running an event with only 3 female speakers out of 25, didn’t really send a great message to observers. Don’t even mention the lack of ethnic diversity on the platform.

What now?

The devolution agenda may be the ‘only show in town’ but whether the core cities can take advantage of this to benefit and engage their own populations remains to be seen.

The Idox Information Service has a wealth of research reports, articles and case studies on governance and city regions. Members receive regular briefings as well as access to our Ask a Researcher enquiry service.

Green for go: the rebirth of light rail

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tramby James Carson

When Edinburgh’s new tram system opens this week it will be three years overdue and millions of pounds over budget. But, in spite of the delays, spiralling costs and contractual difficulties, the Edinburgh system is joining a wider urban light rail renaissance.

Since the 1990s, municipalities around the world have been investing more in light rail transit systems: Continue reading →