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UK: Planting a Flag for Regional ICT |
| Source: |
guardian.co.uk |
| Source Date: |
Thursday, May 12, 2011 |
| Focus: |
ICT for MDGs
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| Country: |
Europe |
| Created: |
May 12, 2011 |
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Socitm and the Local CIO Council have set their strategy for ICT in local government carefully within the national framework – but created some space for flexibility
Socitm and the Local CIO Council have aimed high with their Planting the Flag paper. They have said the strategy document for ICT in local services is aimed at chief executives, elected council members and senior management teams, setting out technology's place in the reform of local services.
With this in mind, it's not surprising that it does not rehearse a series of explanations of how to use ICT, but focuses instead on principles of organisational change. In fact, it talks about getting rid of technology-led cultures and practices, suggesting they have made it more difficult to keep down the cost and get better value from ICT.
Instead, the document outlines broad principles and capabilities, and outlines a number of relevant issues. Much of it will be familiar to those who follow the agenda closely, but if it gets the exposure it could prove enlightening to the people to whom ICT leaders often report.
Reading the document also prompts a few questions about how it fits into the current landscape. One of its core principles is the redesign of services to simplify, standardise and automate, which suggests that the despite the warning against technology-led approaches there is still plenty of scope for investment in ICT.
Martin Ferguson, Socitm's head of policy, agrees but says it has to be balanced against the spending cuts.
"In order to be credible in the current environment we have to be conscious of reducing the current cost of ICT, but in parallel there is the opportunity to use ICT more efficiently and wisely," he says. "There has to be a combination of the two. We don't believe it would be credible to do one without the other."
The other principles are sharing and re-using assets, and innovating to empower citizens and communities. The latter involves shifting ownership and the use of information and technology towards service users. Ferguson agrees that this implies the development of different data model, reflecting a trend in which more people expect to have control over their personal data.
The six strategic capabilities needed for reform are leadership, governance, organisational change, a strategic approach to commissioning and supplier management, shared services and professionalism. Again, much of this is familiar and reflects central government ICT strategy, although Ferguson points out that it's where the local dimension becomes more prevalent.
This stands out in the recommendation that provisioning technology should be governed and managed at regional and sub-regional levels. It suggests that the concept of government as a 'single customer', which the Cabinet Office has pushed at Whitehall level, could be utilised on a more localised basis.
Ferguson explains: "The Cabinet Office has a strong role to play in areas like setting standards, but in terms of provisioning technology all our evidence is that procurement tends to work best at regional and sub-regional level. You get better responses to tenders, a better service, and it's more manageable than when done at central level."
The document also covers six key issues that have to be addressed. The first is potentially awkward, with the assertion that efficient services depend on access by personnel to a "single version of the truth" about people, assets and finance. It is an issue that Ferguson acknowledges could get on the wrong side of some privacy activists, although he insists the paper is not arguing for an approach that revolves around big centralised databases.
"What we are trying to get at with the single version of truth is that when you are delivering services across different channels there are different sources for what is essentially the same information."
The second makes clear that most managers still fail to appreciate the value of information and that there is a need for more sharing, along with a security framework for local services and a wide release of public information.
Another follows the government's agenda to publish data to open standards to make it usable for new services by third parties, and there is a familiar call for a converged infrastructure, with shared data centres and networks.
There is also an emphasis on the development of new operating models that cross local public services. This raises a question over the prospects for organisational change at a time the government is advocating a greater role for the third and private sectors in delivering services, especially as this would depend heavily on who stepped forward in different areas.
Ferguson says this could make it more difficult to achieve this cross-boundary approach, but also suggests that if new providers do emerge they could need ICT systems and support services that would be beyond their means if they do not take a collaborative approach.
The last issue deals with the ICT policies of central government, and includes the need for common information assurance standards, mandatory use of the Public Sector Network, and the need for a single identity management and verification standard to access services. Ferguson says the latter reflects Socitm's gradual alignment with the proponents of a federated system of identity.
Despite a couple of possible tensions, the strategy is generally aligned with that of central government, and it's notable that chief information officer Joe Harley provided words of its support for its launch. This will increase the chances of it having a lasting influence, especially if local services are not shaken up to the extent that the government has advocated.
A more detailed document for chief information officers, heads of ICT and the private sector is to follow. Socitm has already given it a name – Planning the Route – and it is due to arrive within the next few months.
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UK: Planting a Flag for Regional ICT Socitm and the Local CIO Council have set their strategy for ICT in local government carefully within the national framework – but created some space for flexibility
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