Public sector tech trends and the local government interface

Nadira Hussain, Chief Executive, Socitm, spoke to APSE Direct about the gains made in advancing innovation and digital platforms in council services.

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented an unprecedented challenge to the United Kingdom’s public services. The circumstances of last two years also constitute what has been described as a ‘critical juncture for public services’, in effect a once in a generation opportunity to deliver lasting and transformative reform of public services. As a result, the true value of a local authority led, place-based approach has come into sharper focus. Not only has the pandemic impacted directly on the health and wellbeing of people and places, it has also imposed unprecedented shocks on the wider civil society and social-economic life of people and their communities as a whole. Additionally, the impact of the pandemic is compounded by climate change, cost of living, digital poverty and a host of other issues now facing people, places and communities.

Four common ‘pillars’ have been identified, the ‘4Rs’ of Reset, Reform, Renew, and Resilient that broadly characterise place-based recovery and regeneration approaches across the various tiers of local government.
The focus has moved rapidly from initial recovery onto issues of regeneration, sustainability and connectivity. These include the wider issues of digital services, integrated care, cyber security and digital identity, as local authorities orchestrate place-based resources and assets to address the most pressing needs of their residents and communities.

There are also an emerging set of central initiatives, including: Levelling Up; health and care integration; secure, connected places; community preparedness and resilience; net zero; and housing and planning reforms, all of which impact on how local public services are funded and operate in the future.

Taking all these factors together, they point to a rapidly changing and complex environment that needs to be navigated with vision, skill and determination if we are to enhance the resilience of people, communities, organisations and places. The next step is to tackle the deep-seated problems facing communities, being brave and implementing new digital approaches. Three main tasks for digital stakeholders within the public sector, beyond this year, are apparent:

1. Prioritising place-based technology infrastructure to support new ways of working and integrated services,
2. Understanding the broader context for digital change, including building knowledge in areas such as data ethics,
3. Developing new collaborative networks, directly between public service and citizens. 

The identification of key trends that lie in the spaces between different technologies and how these will affect the public sector are also of great significance - for example, a much greater focus on interoperability, systems integration, and exploitation of opportunities arising from a growth in processing power, coupled with harnessing data and new tools to unlock opportunities that lie within our communities. 

Normalising new ways of working with the digital infrastructure to connect employees; designing services in favour of digital delivery blended with non-digital for those who need it; and reconfiguring digital and IT strategies to be place-based rather than organisation-centric, are all key considerations in delivering innovative and modern public services. The opportunities presented will appeal to all those with a stake in regenerating public services and creating thriving communities - employees, citizens, digital leaders and policy makers alike - as they face up to the extreme challenges facing the public sector.

As a result of the insights generated from our members, our partners and wider activities across the local public sector, we have seen the emergence of the following strategic priorities: 

1. The need to build upon the phenomenal response of local authorities and the wider public sector to Covid-19. 
2. The need to sustain the step changes that local public service providers have taken. 
3. The need to harness digital – cultures, capabilities, technologies and data – to enhance the resilience of people, communities, organisations and places. 

Timing is of the essence. As a sector, we must prioritise and proactively encourage the wider use and adoption of digital solutions to enable the transformation of public services.

Nadira delivered a presentation on this topic at the APSE Annual Seminar 2022. You can download the presentation here.