Innovation and Efficiency

Delivering the digital goods

06.08.18: Matt Prosser, Solace’s spokesperson for digital leadership and interim head of paid service at the Shadow Dorset Council, discusses the future of digital colocation between local authorities. Sitting around a table with some of the mo...

Helping a city understand itself

06.08.18: SPONSORED INTERVIEW The urban landscape is changing. How can local authorities keep up with citizen behaviour? Stephen Leece, managing director at Citi Logik, tells PSE’s Luana Salles that big data might just be the solution. The w...

New £7.5m council fund to take digital innovation from ‘basement to boardroom’

05.07.18: The government has announced a £7.5m digital innovation fund to help councils transform their online services. The fund was announced at the LGA Conference in Birmingham yesterday by local government minister Rishi Sunak. BREAKIN...

Can data save the future of children?

02.07.18: Ingrid Koehler, service innovation lead at the LGiU, takes a look at the untapped potential for a digital, data-led transformation of children’s services, weighing this up with the potential risks and challenges local councils could face. ...

Stepping up to GovTech

02.07.18: Malcolm Harbour CBE, chair of the LGA working group on innovation in public procurement, gives us an update on the progress of the GovTech Catalyst challenges, and explains how successful projects will be rolled out. My last article in PSE...

Over £800m saved by councils sharing services

28.06.18: In a new analysis by the LGA, more than £800m of public money has been saved by councils sharing services. In its national shared services map, it shows that there are 555 separate shared services arrangements across England, providin...

Big Data analytics ‘critical’ to help councils keep up with changing citizen behaviour patterns

25.06.18: The way people are moving across a city is fundamentally and rapidly changing, but some local authorities are not moving quickly enough themselves in order to understand these different movement patterns. Councils are therefore missing out...

Can Intelligent Connectivity transform the public sector?

25.06.18: ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE Danny Longbottom, director of local government & health at BT Business & Public Sector, reminds organisations that having the right tech in place will help save time and money in the long run – and Intellig...

Decisions, decisions

18.06.18: The true social value of procurement comes from asking challenging questions and thinking outside the box, argues Melissa Bell, sustainable procurement manager at the YPO. Everyone wants more for their money – and this is even more so...

Sharing of personal data could benefit public services

26.04.18: A new report says that the sharing of personal data across public services could bring significant improvements to the quality of service for individuals and communities. The report, ‘Data for Public Benefit’, was published join...

Creating a common digital direction

19.04.18: Phil Rumens, chair of the LocalGov Digital Steering Group and digital services manager for West Berkshire Council, urges local authorities to make use of the Local Government Digital Service Standard (LGDSS) in order to exploit the full opportun...

Get what you pay for, and only pay for what you get

19.04.18: Matthew Sparkes, deputy director for financial services at the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), on the public sector benefits of the brand-new Spend Analysis and Recovery Services framework. Every year, government bodies including central de...

Council cuts waiting times for land searches by 8 weeks

11.04.18: Homebuyers in West Dorset are benefitting from faster land searches after a council implemented new measures. West Dorset District Council put an improvement plan in place in 2016 to deal with a backlog of applications for conveyancing sear...

Seizing the opportunity to shape drone usage

04.04.18: Kathy Nothstine, lead for future cities in Nesta’s Challenge Prize Centre, explains how a new scheme will help local authorities harness the use of drones to improve public service delivery. The technology enabling unmanned aerial veh...

Does the UK need a cohesive smart city strategy?

18.12.17: Eddie Copeland, director of government innovation at Nesta, argues central government must have clarity of vision to ensure the smart city agenda isn’t heavily focused on technology, but rather on existing urban challenges. For years...