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Socitm, the association for IT and digital leaders in local public services, welcomes Labour’s Digital Government Review that highlights a number of the key themes also articulated in Socitm’s recent Policy Briefing Digital: Vision to Value.

In particular, Socitm is pleased to see a clear focus on putting people at the centre of realising the opportunities presented by digital, noting that the Review refers to ‘digital designed for people and communities, not digital for government’ and says that ‘We must put people in control’ and ‘We must design digital for everyone’.

Socitm welcomes the recognition that most public services are delivered at a local level, and that these span a spectrum from relatively simple transactional services, such as emptying bins, to often highly complex services that exist in areas such as social care. Socitm concurs with the Review that it is in these relatively complex areas that the greatest scope and challenge exists for digital technology to feature in co-created services that are simplified, people-centric and focused on needs.

It is important to recognise that every place is different and therefore the solutions will often need to be different too. Local authorities are uniquely placed to play the leadership and facilitation role locally, but with less emphasis in future on delivering services and more on delivering whole system outcomes. This is a key feature of the work being done with health services around the integrated care agenda, an aspect that is not much covered in the Review.

The Review recognises that digital offers the opportunity to unlock cost savings and increase productivity.  Socitm agrees that this can best be achieved through an open, digital infrastructure - gradually building a common architecture, or platform, based on open standards, open data and open APIs to increase reuse and to reduce the cost and time it takes to implement new policies or build new services. This could build on the work being done by Socitm and the Local CIO Council on the Public Services Network and on identity assurance, and in its collaboration with ADASS and the Department of Health around the Better Care Fund and health and social care integration.

Socitm welcomes the recommendation for a strong, open evidence base to be maintained to capture the outcomes, costs and benefits of implementing and collaborating on digital services. However, we do not think it necessary to set up anything new here, since there is plenty to build on with the evidence base on IT and digital practice and innovation in local government already developed by, among others, Socitm. Indeed, we would urge caution in placing this evidence base in the hands of central government, as this is likely to lead to one-size fits all funding and digital solutions, rather than the people-centric, locally-driven, collaborative approach espoused by the Review. 

We are pleased to see data from Socitm’ Better connected survey and information from other Socitm research quoted in the Review.

With regard to the Review’s suggestion of setting up ‘a new national organisation to create “local digital factories”, run on a fundamentally open, collaborative and not-for-profit basis’, we cannot see how this differs in substance from Socitm’s suggestion, made earlier this year, to create a ‘local GDS’. We described this ‘as a team of advisors available to support top teams in local authorities in implementing digital strategies and associated transformational change, and to help identify and promote best practice and opportunities for sharing digital assets’ as well as ‘co-creation of shared transactions’ for ‘integration into local solutions.’ 

We do agree that such an organisation ‘will require funding and people to kick start it into existence’, but we are clear that it should be led by local, not central, government, and be advisory, delivering change through best practice and peer pressure.  We believe that one of the weaknesses of past IT/transformation initiatives has been a lack of willingness by central government to work through local government and associated local public services. 

We are not fully comfortable with the recommendation that "GDS should be given the remit to work with local government". GDS works for central government and has a mandate and authority to disrupt and change central departments, regardless of departmental opposition.  No such authority exists to apply a similar principle in local government, which would in any case stifle local innovation and adaptability to local contexts.  We do recognise the high value in much work undertaken by GDS and have been keen participants where there has been opportunity to work on joint activities.  Socitm supports the principle that GDS should produce its assets in a way that makes them usable by local public services, but believes that GDS should remain advisory, continuing and expanding its offering of the use of best practice assets. 

The Review breaks new ground in recognising that local authorities must play a critical role in the adoption and exploitation of digital ways of working. We agree with the Review that more needs to be done to build on the successes of projects in individual localities. We would suggest an approach aligned with the current dissemination and engagement programme being led by Socitm across England for health and social care integration.

Finally, taking Socitm’s three core principles for digital - ‘collaboration’, ‘redesign’, and  ‘innovation/disruption’ - we suggest that the Review is strong on the first two of these principles, while having less to say directly about the third.

Further information

Martin Ferguson
(0)7931 456 238
Director of Policy & Research, Socitm
martin.ferguson@socitm.net

Vicky Sargent
07726 601 139
Socitm Press Office
vicky.sargent@socitm.net