Innovation and Efficiency

Council to consider scrapping Amey super contract after report reveals public services failings

12.02.19: Trafford Council chiefs are considering ripping up a ‘super contract’ it has with a private firm to carry out a mass of council services over 20 years after a review has revealed a catalogue of failings and “high-level issues.&...

Edinburgh Council becomes first UK authority to introduce ‘tourist tax’

07.02.19: Councillors at Edinburgh City Council voted today to approve the first ever UK ‘tourist tax’ which will raise an estimated £14.6m annually. The Transient Visitor Levy (TVL) scheme will include a flat £2 per-night roo...

Nottingham council unveils 2028 target to become UK’s first carbon neutral city

24.01.19: Nottingham City Council has committed to becoming the first ‘net-zero carbon’ city in the UK after setting the ambitious target of 2028 to go carbon neutral. The announcement comes as the city met its energy strategy target goal...

Creating a digital london

18.12.18: Hackney mayor and London Councils’ digital champion, Philip Glanville, takes an in-depth look at some of the projects benefitting from a dedicated funding pot to improve digital infrastructure across the capital’s boroughs. Over...

Digital innovation in the public sector: The future is now

17.12.18: One of the public sector’s key technology partners has recently welcomed a new member to its team. Matt Spencer, O2’s head of public sector sales, speaks to PSE’s Luana Salles about what a day in his life looks like, and how th...

Don’t let a culture of resistance take hold of your organisation

17.12.18: If we want to introduce change throughout local government, then we have to encourage our people to buy-in, writes Danny Longbottom, director of local government and health at BT. In my role I have the privilege of meeting lots of people in...

Small businesses offer the big ideas for better public service

17.12.18: Partnering innovative SMEs with central government can help the civil service work smarter in the digital age, writes Tim Skinner, head of central government at BT. In an increasingly digital world, central government faces new challenges....

Re-energising citizen engagement

10.12.18: Could smart cities and social media be the perfect match? Simon Dennis, director of artificial intelligence and analytics innovation at SAS UK, reports.  Politics is a divisive issue and not simply from a philosophical standpoint....

Former Rochdale MYP wins prestigious 'Diana Award' for work with mental health and young people

29.11.18: Sarah Mahmood, aged 17, is the former Member of UK Youth Parliament for the borough of Rochdale and has been recognised by the Royal Family for her work during her year as MYP and has set a good example to her peers, whom she listened well to an...

Spending Review: Chances are you’ll have to get smarter with budget, but how?

05.11.18: PSE take a look at smarter, data-driven ways of working to improve value-based spending ahead of next year's Spending Review.  It’s been almost 10 years since austerity measures first scythed through the public sector. In that ti...

Councils face £30bn bill unless private firms act with ‘fairness and decency’

30.10.18: Councils could find themselves with a massive £30bn bill if private firms fail to improve how they deliver local services, according to a new report from Localis. The report, ‘Ethical Commercialism,’ found that moving all...

Councils get free access to satellite images and data from UK space programme

26.10.18: Councils are to be provided with free access to thousands of satellite images and radar data from satellites to help with planning and development projects. The UK Space Agency’s Space for Smarter Government Programme (SSGP) will give...

What cities should become

15.10.18: Tom Leaver, project manager at Future Cities Catapult, examines the rationale behind the creation of the City Data Sharing Toolkit, and explores how this is driving a seismic shift in how cities evolve into our data-rich future. We’re...

IfG: Unpopular funding reform decisions ahead as easiest council cuts have already been made

12.10.18: The easiest savings across the public sector have already been made and choices of where to cut corners are getting increasingly harder, meaning the government will soon have to face tough decisions on the future of public service financing. ...

London Councils award £47m boost to improve digital infrastructure

09.10.18: London Councils has awarded £47m to fund major projects to improve digital infrastructure in the capital. The £46.83m comes from the business rates retention scheme currently being piloted in London and will fund eight projects...