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Improved data sharing and a coordinated local digital service among recommendations to address cost pressure on local authorities

Establishing a local government digital service to manage an 'app store' style marketplace for local authorities to replace their need for bespoke systems and improved data sharing to curb duplication are among key recommendations in a new report by Policy Exchange.

The thinktank has called for a coordinated effort to tackle the issue of hundreds of authorities independently procuring and developing costly systems to deliver public services in a new report focused on overcoming challenges facing local authorities as a result of a predicted £12.4bn funding gap by 2020.

Arguing that only a few of these fragmented local digital initiatives "are likely to make an impact", Policy Exchange's findings call for improved service collaboration and data sharing to tackle unsustainably high costs and also better combat risks from fraud - with a single combined Public Services Network (PSN) among recommendations to support these aims.

Under the key recommendations of the report entitled 'Small Pieces Loosely Joined', author Eddie Copeland, head of technology policy for Policy Exchange, has set out eight key strategies local authorities should consider in order to drive efficiency across their operations.

These include the formation of a Local Government Digital Service, in this case owned by the public sector, to manage a Local Government Data Marketplace (LGDM). This would bring together authorities looking to procure online services with businesses and organisations using open standards so that the required solutions can be provided across the sector limiting duplicated effort and cost, according to Copeland.

"If several councils needed the same service via the LGDM, companies would be able to offer much cheaper prices for all, as instead of having to deal with hundreds of different organisations (and different interfaces) they could create one solution that worked for all of them," he said.

The report also backs appointing a government chief data officer to work with local and central government representatives, along with other stakeholders, to set out updated open standards for information. These standards, focused on aims like integrated care for elderly people, should be highly recommended for authorities to adopt over a ten year period, before making compliance mandatory from then onwards, according to the report.

Policy Exchange has also backed a single secure mechanism for transferring data by merging the Public Services Network (PSN) and the NHS' N3 network.

"Longer term, government should consider whether that combined network could be replaced with secure, encrypted communication sent via the internet: a Public Services Virtual Network (PSvN). This would offer a Secure Network as a Service (SNaaS) for all but the most critical applications," said the report.

Copeland also backed a new iteration of the government's Digital Marketplace procurement service focused on curbing interoperable IT between authorities by exclusively offering systems compatible with open standards. This would in theory make them able to communicate through a proposed Single Public Services Network.

"Suppliers of proprietary systems should be required to provide open APIs so that all systems can share data," he added.

The other key recommendations of the report include:

  • Establishing an independent Office of Data Responsibility (ODR) to build on the existing work of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) by offering legal guidance for public sector bodies on data sharing, reviewing innovation projects, as well as auditing and accrediting local authority information policies.
  • Providing citizens with access to data held about them in the public sector - except in cases of "extreme sensitivity" - with government setting dates for when an individual can access records from an organisation via a personal data store.
  • Every UK city to establish an Office of Data Analytics (ODA) similar to the New York City Mayor's Office of Data Analytics that aims to increase public sector efficiency through identifying areas that can support increasingly shared services. The ODA should also consider releasing non-sensitive information through open data portals to allow thirds parties to develop apps and products.
  • Accelerating roll out of Whole Place Community Budgets - used to tackle specific local issues - for councils committing to share data with their regional Office of Data Analytics to aid redesigning public services

Responding to the report's publication today, public sector IT managers groups Socitm said it welcomed the Policy Exchange report on technology use - to which it contributed - despite questioning what it called its "harsh judgement on local authority performance".

Responding in particular to calls for establishing a Local Government Digital Service, Socitm said it recognised that value could be "derived from additional resources for the assessment of organisational readiness and maturity for digital transition, digital skills development and training to improve readiness, and emphasis on sharing existing best practice as much as inventing from scratch."

"One size cannot fit all, and local determination is a fundamental component of local public services, so a local GDS type service must remain flexible and adaptable to local needs whilst facilitating local software and systems development when judged better than going to market and/or a Local GDS that is encouraging reuse by helping share practice and technical components between [authorities] and third sector service providers," the group said.

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Autor(en)/Author(s): Neil Merrett

Quelle/Source: Government Computing, 26.01.2015

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