Putting Data at the Heart of Local Government Reorganisation

I’m happy to admit that, like many, when the Devolution White Paper landed, my first reaction was not particularly positive. As someone who has worked in a District Council since 2008 (and been Chief Executive since 2020), there was a sense that our work was not appreciated or valued by government and was being sacrificed to meet the ever-growing cost of social care. However, once I started thinking about what the future could hold I started to get really quite excited about the opportunities and possibilities presented – the opportunity to build new councils from scratch; the opportunity to reset relationships with our communities; the opportunity to look afresh at the way services are delivered; the possibility to supercharge the digital transformation of local government; the possibility of reshaping authority boundaries to reflect a sense of place not wedded to boundaries constructed in 1974; the possibility of true devolution from Central to Local Government – I could go on, but LGIU has strict word limits!

Looking at all of those opportunities and possibilities and there is something that ties them all together – data. The government have been very clear in their feedback letters to all two-tier areas that they are looking for evidence to support the proposals contained in the final submissions and in Hertfordshire we have a dedicated data workstream to support the wider work being undertaken to develop our proposals. However, what I want to focus on in this article is how we can embed data strategies into the creation of these new authorities, to allow true data led decision making within all areas of local government.

We currently have a big challenge in Hertfordshire that there is fragmentation of data across different public sector partners and even within authorities. From conversations I have had with those who work in other parts of the country I don’t think we are unique in that! I have long talked to colleagues at my council about the concept of a digital twin. For those not familiar with the concept, a digital twin is essentially a digital replica of something in the real world – in this case the communities we serve. Insights gained from the digital twin can be used to optimise operations, predict potential issues, and make informed decisions about the residents/businesses. With the bringing together of county and district functions, we should be designing new systems and processes with data at their heart. Think of a vulnerable resident – county will have data about social care interactions, education, maybe relevant public health data, the district will have data on benefits, council tax arrears, possibly their housing, assisted bin collections or clinical waste collections (e.g. needles). Combining all the data held provides a much richer picture of an individual. Now imagine adding in data from the NHS and police, the further layers of data enrich that knowledge even more. Once you have that knowledge it opens up possibilities for changing how we deliver services, providing targeted interventions to those who need them the most.

We have a unique opportunity to reimagine and redesign our systems and processes. So how do we incorporate these ideas into the creation of new unitary authorities? The simple answer is to design these principles into the new systems and processes adopted. Choose modern low code cross-cutting core IT systems that allow easy access to data in consistent format, rather than needing to buy in expensive data analytics platforms that sit over the top of a number of different systems that don’t otherwise talk to each other. Ensure your systems and processes deliver data that is complete, consistent, accurate and timely. Design the data strategies and GDPR policies to allow (where appropriate) sharing with other public sector bodies, including the new strategic authorities. Engage now with the police, NHS and other partners on these concepts with appropriate data sharing agreements put in place for day one of the new unitaries. Better management of the data we hold opens up more possibilities for use of Artificial Intelligence and automation – again these should be designed into processes and systems from the start, rather than trying to retrofit at some point in the future. Ensure staff have the right skills and knowledge for these new opportunities, using training providers like Multiverse, as we have done in North Herts and as some of our neighbours in Hertfordshire have now started to do.

Looking more broadly, what else should we be thinking about with our systems? Adopt ‘tell us once’ principles – most people will be familiar with the government’s Tell Us Once service, where you can report a death to most government organisations in one go. When a resident moves into an area, or a new business launches, why should they need to tell multiple departments separately? Design in cyber security controls as part of the build of the new IT infrastructure – studies show that this is something that district councils are currently doing better than either counties or unitaries, yet all of the sector needs to get better at it. Rather than trying to fix creaking legacy systems, incorporate this into system design.

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Author: Anthony Roche, Chief Executive, North Hertfordshire District Council

 This blog post was sponsored by Alliance Leisure, the UK's leading leisure development partner, specialising in supporting local authorities to improve and expand their leisure facilities and services. Click the logo above and check out their website and services.