1. An analysis of innovation and future
themes of work within Kent County
Council’s business plans
Kirsty Joanna Russell
5th May 2010
1
2. Contents
1.0 Executive Summary............................................................................3
1.1 Background and Context...........................................................3
1.2 Innovative Projects....................................................................4
1.3 Themes of Work........................................................................4
1.4 Issues........................................................................................4
1.5 Recommendations.....................................................................5
2.0 Aims.....................................................................................................6
3.0 Innovative Projects...............................................................................7
4.0 Cross Directorate Themes...................................................................9
4.1 Generic Themes........................................................................10
4.2 Emerging Themes.....................................................................10
5.0 Issues..................................................................................................17
5.1 Issues within the Directorates....................................................17
5.2 Issues with the Business Plans.................................................19
6.0 Technology Transformation Team Research Themes.........................22
6.1 Smart Phone Applications..........................................................22
6.2 Innovation Playground................................................................22
6.3 Virtual Presenter.........................................................................23
6.4 Co-Creative Working..................................................................23
6.5 Dissemination of Ideas...............................................................23
6.6 New Channels............................................................................23
7.0 Recommendations................................................................................24
7.1 For Kent County Council....................................................................24
7.2 For the Technology Transformation Team.........................................24
2
3. Executive Summary
1.1 Background and Context
The Technology Transformation team’s principle is to support and change how KCC
undertakes its business in the future. The team has helped to test and deploy a
variety of innovations in the past two years, thereby exploiting the efficiencies,
savings and benefits identified; however within 2010/11 this model will be expanded
to include a wider spread of units within KCC. To help achieve this goal it was felt
that an investigation must be undertaken in order to fully comprehend the units’
issues and needs and how they are planning to deliver their services within 2010/11.
A content analysis was conducted in March 2010 of 29 KCC Unit 2010/11 Business
Plans and 4 KCC 2010/11 Directorate Business Plans. These documents are
compiled annually and provide a general overview of the functions of structures
within KCC, along with detail of their planned activity, projects, financial budget and
any national indicators they will be working towards in the next twelve months.
The aims of the research were to firstly draw attention to any innovative projects
within these plans, along with any planned innovations. The second objective was to
establish the generic themes of work featured within every business plan, such as
tackling climate change, along with any emerging themes, such as working within
Europe and partnership working. The research also aimed to highlight any issues
that teams and directorates were facing which may impact the way they work or
deliver their services, and highlight any underlying issues with the content or
structure of the business plans. The final aim was to provide firm recommendations
based on the findings for both the Technology Transformation team and Kent County
Council.
3
4. 1.2 Innovative Projects
The innovation projects were categorised into a) Projects which had a clear method
of delivery, b) Project Developments, which were successful innovative projects
branching out into new areas of work, and c) Potential Innovations, where teams had
identified an issue where an innovative solution was needed.
The projects with a clear method of delivery included the Kent Offshore Wind Farm
(CED), the Club Connect Card (CMY), the Carbon Hub Tool (CMY) and the Home
Insulation Project (CED). Project developments included HOUSE which is evolving
into ‘HOUSE on the move’ to provide services to young people who are hard to reach
and Pick N Mix which is planned to be rolled out as part of Kent.gov. Trialling
webcast TV and creating an innovative and pioneering platform for festivals were
highlighted as potential innovations.
1.3 Themes of Work
15 cross directorate themes were highlighted; made up of both generic and emerging
topics. Generic themes were mandatory for every team to feature in their business
plan, such as climate change. Emerging themes were not mentioned within every
business plan but were mentioned on a sufficiently frequent basis to be able to form
clear patterns. These included managing information, encouraging volunteering,
working across services, partnership working outside of KCC, working within Europe,
sharing services, working with SMEs, engaging with young people, engaging with
hard to reach groups, moving services online, promoting 2012 Olympics, customer
shaping services and developing Total Place.
1.4 Issues
Political, Economical, Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental
(PESTLE) issues which may be limiting the number of innovative initiatives in the
directorates were highlighted, with the issue of reduced budgets being the most
frequently mentioned.
Although the business plans seem rigorous, detailed and comprehensive documents
at first sight, there are some underlying issues that need addressing. A) It was hard
to distinguish whether teams had a lack of technological knowledge, needed help to
address this or just failed to specify their chosen tools, as many generic comments
4
5. were made1. B) The wordles created for this report highlighted that there is an
evident difference in language between the business plans and C) there is a need for
teams to highlight how they are planning to manage future risks in their business
plans.
1.5 Recommendations
The TT team should produce an annual survey and research report using the
forthcoming year business plans. Contact will need to be made early in the year with
the individuals who compile the Directorate and Unit business plans so they can be
analysed very soon after release. The TT team will use the outputs of this report to
identify which teams could use innovation to help deliver their services in a more
efficient and cost beneficial way.
It is recommended for the whole organisation, that the individuals who create the
basic structure for the business plans should insert a section on managing risks
making it compulsory for teams and directorates to state their plans in reducing or
avoiding them. Kent County Council should also seriously consider how both the
emerging and generic themes emerging from the findings will influence the way the
organisation works and delivers services to customers in the future.
1
“Continuing to support staff with IT skills to support new technology used to improve efficiency”
5
6. Aims of Research
1. To identify innovative projects being planned, along with project
developments and potential projects.
2. To highlight and evaluate both generic and emerging cross directorate
themes.
3. To identify issues with the structure and content of the business plans, and
to identify issues which may be restricting the number of innovative
projects being carried out within 2010/11 in all the directorates.
4. To provide a better understanding of how the TT team’s aims relate to the
upcoming work of the units and directorates within KCC.
5. To provide robust recommendations for the Technology Transformation
(TT) team and KCC as a whole.
6. To provide a ‘stepping stone’ for a more in-depth and detailed mapping
research project that is being planned.
Innovative Projects
The innovative projects have been divided into three separate categories:
6
7. 1. Projects with clear aims and a detailed method of delivery.
2. Developments of existing innovative projects.
3. Projects where a need for an innovative solution has been identified.
See table 1 in Appendix D.
An ‘issue tree’ diagram, see Figure 1, was used to demonstrate the key innovations
being planned in the business plans, as they provide a visual ‘skeleton’ of which
teams are working on innovative projects, what these projects are and how many of
them there are. Innovative initiatives being carried out within the CMY were HOUSE
on the Move and ModernGov Member, as well as the Kent Offshore Windfarms and
Webcast TV within CED.
Figure 1: A photograph showing the issue tree diagram for the CFE Directorate
before the PESTLE analysis was conducted.
However, there were a limited number of innovative projects highlighted within
Children, Families and Education (CFE), Kent Adult Social Services (KASS) and
Environment, Highways and Waste (EHW). Within the CFE Directorate Business
Plan, a ‘Virtual School Head’ was mentioned which ‘is a post to act as Virtual Head
teacher for looked after children in Kent, who are of course widely dispersed across
schools’2. In EHW, Kent Highways Services are working on ‘Hubs’ to improve
“programming and quality of information to gangs”. Other than these, innovative
projects planned for 2010/11 were limited.
2
Mentioned by Peter Welsh, Consultant for Commissioning and Partnerships for KCC, on Yammer.
7
9. Cross Directorate Themes
The ‘Bubble Chart’ shows the themes identified and highlights the frequency of
mentions throughout the business plans; Tackling Climate Change has not been
included due to it being a generic theme featured in all the business plans. The chart
does show that partnership working and sharing services are the two main themes
running through the business plans. All the other themes, such as managing
information and working with SMEs, were mentioned on a similar frequency apart
from the 2012 Olympics.
6.2 Generic Themes
Generic themes refer to topics which are mandatory for each team or directorate to
mention within their business plan.
Tackling Climate Change
Most of the business plans featured ideas such as planning to “reduce CO2 from
buildings, reduce CO2 from travel and transport, and manage climate risk” (KASS
Directorate Business Plan), “car share to meetings” and “reduce office costs”.
However, units are also realising that to tackle climate change, behaviour needs to
be adapted3. Kent Highway Services are encouraging staff to realise that individuals
are just as responsible for their behaviour as units “Ensuring all staff understand their
responsibilities and actions they can take for climate chance and sustainability”, and
Youth Services are looking at updating the “Service’s Environmental Curriculum
Pack, designed as a toolkit to assist staff and young people to undertake
environmental projects at local level”.
6.3 Emerging Themes
3
, “All of this [tackling climate change] requires strong leadership and commitment to changing behaviours across the
organisation” – Integrated Strategy and Planning Unit
9
10. Emerging themes were not featured in every business plan like tackling climate
change; they were mentioned on a sufficiently frequent basis to form a clear pattern.
Saving Costs
Saving costs was not as prominent a theme as expected within the 2010/11 business
plans. However; this may be as some teams have already completed the majority of
their cost savings4.
Another reason highlighted by the CMY Directorate is that saving costs will be a
significant issue over the next few years, not necessarily just in 2010/115.
Managing Information
Some teams are looking at different ways of managing and disseminating their
information so that they can improve their services. Kent Highway Services (CMY)
are looking at how they can improve information to Gateways. Sports, Leisure and
Olympics (CMY) are looking at rationalising their Service's database system to
enhance performance, management and customer communication; as are Libraries
(CMY) and Trading Standards (CMY). However, there is limited evidence of how this
is going to be carried out within the business plans.
Encouraging Volunteering
Encouraging volunteering within the community and amongst KCC staff was a
prominent theme in the business plans. Policy and Resources (CMY) are going to
encourage and spread good practice in volunteer management within KCC, and
SEDICT will be working in partnership with Kent CAN6 to deliver an annual VCS
conference. Libraries (CMY), Youth Support Services (CMY) and the Sport, Leisure
and Olympics Unit (CMY) are all looking at how they can encourage volunteering in
the community.
Working across Services
4
“The unit has already made very significant cost savings in its direct activities. The key challenge now is how we
help the organisation adjust to operating in a lower resource environment whilst protecting key Member priorities”.
5
“The reduction in public expenditure in the coming years will pose challenges for our operations as well as for
users of our services” “which includes over £4m of efficiency savings over the next three years”.
6
Kent CAN is a county level infrastructure organisation which exists to support and promote the Voluntary and
Community Sector (VCS) in Kent and Medway.
10
11. The idea that units within KCC are isolated was a common topic within the Staff
Road Shows, with Peter Gilroy, Chief Executive of KCC, mentioning that “there is a
danger that we become more silo'd when budgets are squeezed”. He went on to say
that “We must avoid that and allow money to be used in the most sensible ways”7.
The CFE Directorate Business Plan mentions that in 2010/11 “more flexible
approaches need to be organised around the needs of service users rather than
professional silos”. SEDICT will collaborate with the CMY Directorate, Arts
Development with the CFE Directorate and Kent Highway Services are also looking
at working with other directorates. It was also mentioned in various business plans
that Total Place is the way forward in stopping isolation amongst KCC teams8.
Partnership Working outside of KCC
This was a frequent theme amongst all the directorates, and included working with
district councils, the private sector and other public sector bodies.
Comms and Media (CED) are going to be working with district councils on a joint
communication newspaper, and are looking at joining up with other online services to
provide information to the Gateways. Emergency Planning will also be working with
district councils, along with voluntary organisations, faith groups and members of the
public within the civil contingencies arena.
In terms of other public bodies, Kent Highway Services are going to be looking at
working with Kent Police; Arts Development with Homes and Communities Agency;
Personnel and Development with Dover, Thanet, Shepway and Canterbury councils;
Corporate Finance are going to “Increase partnership working with Kent Districts and
other public sector bodies”.
At the moment however, Public Health within CED are the only unit who stated that
they will be developing a partnership with the private sector, with an aim of improving
healthy living in Gravesend.
Working within Europe
7
Taken from Hollie Snelson’s Yammer Feed whilst she was reporting live from the Staff Road Shows
https://www.yammer.com/kent.gov.uk/tags/staffroadshows
8
“Total Place may help to unlock ‘silo’ mentality when it comes to tackling ingrained issues” (Supporting
Independence Programme, CMY).
11
12. SEDICT within CED are going to be focusing on “Widening and deepening the
products of the Kent in Europe seminar programme to encompass a think-tank
approach” and are going to “Deliver a seminar and follow-up research and visit
programme to widen Kent’s European network and influence on skills provision
particularly for the 14-24 age range including NEETS”. Arts Development within
CMY Directorate are also going to be delivering ‘EuroCamp’: an international camp
based at the Swattenden Centre for 240 young people aged 14-17 from Kent and
Europe in July/August 2010”. SEDICT especially is sowing the seeds for KCC to
branch out into even more partnership working within Europe, suggesting that this
focus may be more prominent in the future business plans.
Sharing Services
Sharing services was a consistent theme due to pressures for teams to make cost
savings and adopt an influential ‘Total Place’ approach. This again was mentioned in
all the Directorate Business Plans; the major projects being ‘Tell Us Once’ and the
merge between Libraries and the Registration Services both of which are based in
the CMY. The Public Health team (CED) will be carrying out a pilot project to
establish individual health assessments in Kent libraries.
There are other brief mentions of merging services from Kent Highway Services
(EHW), Commissioning and Partnerships (CFE), Libraries (CMY), SDU (CED),
Comms and Media (CED), Personnel and Development (CED), SEDICT (CED) and
the CFE Directorate Business Plan are more passing comments following on from
the success of Total Place and the Gateways.
Working with Businesses
There was an aspiration of helping small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and
working with them, especially within the CED. EHW’s Low Carbon Futures Project
helps SMEs to reduce their emissions and the Arts Development Unit within CMY are
going to working on a framework to help support them in the creative industry. Within
CED, it is planned to map businesses within Kent, help them to ‘internationalise’ and
deliver seminars to help them develop. Trading Standards within CMY are also
hoping to provide trading law advice to them, targeting companies who are
‘developing new or innovative’ products.
Engaging with Young People
12
13. At the KCC Staff Road Shows, Peter Gilroy and Paul Carter emphasised both getting
young people to work at KCC and reducing the number of unemployed young people
within Kent: “We have an ageing workforce, we need to get more people in and
make the targets tougher…in Kent the number of people over 16yrs old has
plummeted thanks to the enormously successful 14-16 vocational programmes” 9.
Personnel and Development within the same directorate is aiming to “Develop a
skilled workforce for the future through the recruitment of young people to influence
the age demographic”.
Again, within EHW there seemed to be contrasting views on drafting young people
into the organisation. Kent Highway Services (CMY) states that “Since the age
profile of the KHS workforce reveals that approximately 30% of staff are over 55
years of age a succession planning and career pathway process is put in place to
ensure continuity of skills and service delivery”, yet within Environment and Waste
“There is a greater proportion of younger staff in the service and currently succession
planning is not an urgent issue as other directorates/services”.
Engaging with hard to reach and disadvantaged groups
This theme was featured in both the TT team’s ‘Transformed By You’ events and was
evident in the business plans. An interesting finding is that the Supporting
Independence Programme (CMY) labelled young people as a ‘disadvantaged group’
and placed them as a priority above all other groups10. HOUSE on the Move also
aims to target young people, but those who are particularly hard to reach11. The
‘Your Safety, Your Health, Your Choice’ quiz by Trading Standards (CMY) aims to
target disadvantaged groups, again there is a focus on young people12.
Personnel and Development (CED) are hoping to map disadvantaged groups within
KCC to “Build a comprehensive picture of the organisation by diversity strands.” Arts
Development (CMY) is going to support the KCC Diversity Festival Work with
DaDa13, and Libraries (CMY) will be looking at how to make their services more
accessible to these groups.
9
Mike Harris and Hollie Snelson Yammer Feed live from the KCC Staff Road Show:
https://www.yammer.com/kent.gov.uk/tags/staffroadshows
10
, “An immediate priority is young people because evidence indicates that they are being disproportionately
disadvantaged by the current recession, although other disadvantaged groups will not be forgotten.”
11
“House enables the identification of local needs for hard-to-reach young people who have previously not engaged
with services that can lead to significant service re-design.”
12
“Teachers and special needs co-ordinators have told us young people with learning disabilities are often
overlooked when planning consumer education strategies and so this quiz has been developed to address this gap.”
13
DaDa - South regional disability arts organisation
13
14. Moving Services Online
Peter Gilroy mentioned in his Chief Executive foreword for the 2010/11 Business
Plans, “Continuing to develop the new website to be a fully interactive with services
available online. Online transactional capability will not only deliver a better customer
experience but financial savings as well’, however this wasn’t echoed as strongly
within the business plans. Arts Development (CMY) will be looking into increasing
awareness of the Unit and the services it offers through developing a web presence.
Corporate Finance (CED) will be moving into ePayments in 2010/11, and Libraries
(CMY) are going to develop innovative IT solutions for their Library and Archive
services with ISG and other partners (e.g. Radio Frequency Identification - RFID).
The Specialist Children’s Service Group (CFE) are trying to encourage their
educational psychologists to take online and video interactive training.
Promoting 2012 Olympics
The Sports, Leisure and Olympics team (CMY) will have a strong focus on this theme
throughout 2010/11, including seeking to attract events of major significance and
international teams to Kent through the London 2012 Games. However, the only
other business plan that mentioned this event was the Arts Development unit (CMY)
who are going to be helping to organise and run the Kent School Games 2012.
Customers Shaping Services
This theme was a another common theme amongst the business plans, as Peter
Gilroy mentions in his Chief Executive Foreword ‘Citizenship is having increased
meaning in shaping public services - understanding of the customer interface is
therefore of critical importance’.
Within CED, the shaping of HOUSE on the Move is going to be shaped and moulded
based on the feedback from focus groups (Public Health). SDU are going to be
delivering a youth channel driven by young people and focusing on their issues and
ideas. The unit will also be setting up focus groups with customers to review current
service delivery and potential improvements, and the information gathered from
these groups will be used by staff as part of the Insight to Innovation programme.
Comms and Media are also going to be looking at not only customers shaping
services, but allowing them to access more personalised information tailored to their
needs, developing: “website registration to get personalised information and
services, report faults, track the progress of requests/faults and sign up for regular
updates.”
14
15. Within KASS, the rationale behind the modernisation is to give customers a more
personalised service and a higher level of choice and control. Although it is not
stated in the Directorate Business Plan how this is going to be carried out, the work is
ongoing and is related to the FAME project. Customers are also going to be given
more choice and control through the ‘Valuing People Now’, which is again part of the
ALFA modernisation.
KASS also have the Kent LINk (Local Involvement Network) which is an independent
network of local people and community groups working together to influence and
improve Kent’s health and social care services. The Directorate Involvement Group,
has been reconfigured to include members of the public and will be jointly chaired by
a member of the public and a SMT (Senior Management Team) member. The
Learning Resource Team within KASS has also trained 13 service users with mental
health problems to provide training on the Approved Mental Health Practitioner
course for Social Work staff.
Within EHW, Integrated Planning and Strategy are going to improve customer
experience including public access in the planning process, e-consultation and
applications available on the web, while Kent Highway Services are going to engage
with the community to develop and consult on proposed improvements to the
highway network.
Youth Services within CMY are looking at empowering customers to have a greater
influence over the services provided for them, Supporting People will be conducting a
pilot of self directed support to examine the impact, and Policy and Resources will be
listening to young people’s views and opinions and developing their ideas to improve
education and life in Kent.
Developing Total Place
Total Place was noted earlier as helping to shape an approach by sharing services;
however the actual project for delivering this will be developing and expanding within
2010/11. The Property Group’s business plan (CED) states that the unit has been
tasked with making savings of £251k in 2010/2011 and is focusing on identifying
opportunities to generate significant savings. However, the SDU Unit (CED) will be
responsible for the majority of the work for Total Place as they mention that during
2010/11 they will be working with KCC theme leads and external partners to deliver
the aspirations within the Total Place submission, co-ordinating the delivery of the
actions within the programme, ensuring the links between the three themes are made
and liaising with central government as appropriate. They will be exploring
15
16. approaches taken by other pilot areas on Total Place and share ideas and best
practice from these areas in Kent. The CFE Directorate will also be making sure that
in 2010/11 the directorate will be fully involved in Total Place, and discussions will be
linked with the Corporate Centre at the relevant levels – Resource Directors, BWP
(Better Workplaces), COG (Chief Officer Group) and Cabinet.
16
17. Issues
5.1 Issues within the Directorates
A PESTLE analysis14 was conducted to determine any underlying issues which may
be restricting innovative projects being developed within all of the directorates and
may explain the emerging themes that were identified. Each directorate was
analysed in terms of political, environment, social-cultural, technological, legal and
economical issues that appeared in their business plans.
Chief Executive’s Directorate
It is interesting to see that the analysis for the CED, highlighted technology, financial,
social and environmental issues for not only the directorate, but for the wider public
sector and the community too. These were seen as intertwined, meaning that an
issue in the community or public sector may affect the work of CED in 2010/11.
The issue of reduced budgets was highlighted for the whole public sector and the
voluntary sector15 however CED is also looking to generate income, not stated by
other directorates16. The Business Plan not only highlighted a need for technological
solutions, but recognised that these are ever changing and that there is a danger of
the organisation being left behind17. From a social perspective, the directorate
highlights the importance of users shaping services, as highlighted in the research
themes earlier, but there is a danger of not fully understanding their needs18 and
teams not willing to change the way they work to make room for this transformation19.
However, succession planning20 and the rolling out of broadband21 could be
opportunities for innovation rather than barriers within the directorate.
14
“A PESTLE analysis involves identifying the Political, Economical, Socio-Cultural, Technological, Legal and
Environmental influences on an organisation or strategy” – Strategy Survival Guide, Cabinet Office, Prime Minister’s
Strategy Unit, July 2004.
15
“This business plan is set in the context of a difficult financial situation. Financial reductions across the public
sector, and the voluntary sector, which plays such a key role in Kent, are set to be very significant.”
16
“Maximising income generation.”
17
“The pace of change in technology is now so rapid that local government is in danger of falling behind the
expectations of citizens who are embracing these new technologies. It is essential that we, the public sector family
collectively, make the most efficient use of our assets and continue to harness the benefit of emerging technologies”
18
“Citizenship is having increased meaning in shaping public services - understanding of the customer interface is
therefore of critical importance”
19
“This means we have to transform the way we interact and engage”
20
Services will maintain a focus on succession planning within the Unit, but good progress was made in 2009/10.
17
18. Children, Families and Education
There was a recognised need for innovation to make improvements within the CFE
Directorate Business Plan, but this was set against a background of reduced budgets
which may limit the amount of innovation planned for 2010/11:
“All require an innovative response from us within the context of reduced public
spending” – CFE Directorate Business Plan
The business plan highlights social problems such as rising demands from the
customer22, the reorganising of the directorate23 and the problem of other local
authorities placing children within Kent24 which again may be barriers against
innovation.
Communities
The CMY Directorate recognises financial issues will arise in 2010/1125, however see
these as a challenge rather than a problem26. No other issues were highlighted by
the analysis which may explain the large number of innovative initiatives planned for
this directorate within 2010/11.
Environment, Highways and Waste
The analysis showed that a need to generate ideas and innovative is evident within
the EHW business plans, but the technological tools to enable this are yet to be
determined which may be a barrier to innovative initiatives. For example, one team
stated that they “want to manage existing IT systems and determine and deliver new
innovative business solutions in 2010/11” however how this will be achieved or with
which tools is not mentioned27.
21
“Grants will be made to increase the wired broadband availability across the county; this is currently 98% for
households and 97.3% for businesses and move towards meeting the Digital Britain 2mb+ standard.”
22
“Within CFE, in common with many other local authorities, there are challenges in relation to increased demands
on our children’s social services”
23
“The new delivery model, subject to consultation, will be a significant change for some of the 4,500 staff working
within CFE, and there will be the loss of around 260 posts”
24
“This continues to create risks across a range of services including the need to provide additional support without
the potential for cost recoupment from placing authorities”
25
“Upcoming reduction in public finances highlights particular risks that the directorate faces due to its make-up
Managers will be focused on delivering a tough Medium term Plan, which includes over £4m of efficiency savings
over the next three years”
26
“Internally, our services are responding to the challenge to become leaner, more flexible and better able to respond
quickly to the changing environment. Our staff will need to continue to be at their creative best, innovating beyond
the expectations of our customers, and their development is our priority.”
18
19. Economical barriers28, such as reduced budgets, as well as environmental barriers29,
such as adverse weather conditions during the winter were also mentioned frequently
within the unit plans and again may be barriers to innovative projects being
conducted.
Kent Adult Social Services
The analysis highlighted a need for ‘modernisation’ and personalisation’30,
which is sometimes considered a driver for innovation, and a major
environmental disruption for staff from the directorate restructure31. KASS is
widely known for their innovative mobile working for staff, Telehealth and
FaME project (Flexible and Mobile Working Engagement), and it could be that
the continuation of these major, large-scale innovations may also be
responsible for a lack of new, innovative projects mentioned for 2010/11.
5.2 Issues with the Business Plans
Technological Knowledge
There was a tendency for teams and directorates to make broad statements such as,
“Continuing to support staff with IT skills to support new technology used to improve
efficiency” – Kent Highway Services. The teams stated what they wanted to achieve
(technologies to improve efficiencies within the team) but did not reveal how to
achieve this and which technologies to consider using. Whether this is due to a lack
of technological knowledge or a failure to state planned research into potential
technologies is unknown. However, the TT team has a wealth of knowledge
regarding innovative, time and money saving technologies and should be
disseminating this information amongst all these teams.
Language
27
“To ensure that the country parks service is well-managed, sustainable and innovative, managing the
expenditure/income balance and enable the delivery and development of key services and future visitor needs” -
Country Parks for EHW
28
“Insufficient resources to meet business objectives and cover workloads”- IS&P
29
“We are experiencing the most challenging winter for 30 years – something that was impossible to predict but
which has placed significant additional demands on our services” – E&W, “Accidents involving a member of the
public or staff at a Household Waste Recycling Centre, in a country park or on a Public Right of Way” – E&W
30
“Improve the level of personalisation, choice and control”
31
“Active Lives for Adults (ALfA) is a programme of total transformation… This has been a challenging time for staff”
19
20. There was an evident difference in language between the business plans. For
example, words such as ‘systems’, ‘innovation’, ‘platforms’, ‘prototypes’,
‘applications’, ‘marketplace’ were commonplace throughout the TT team business
plan, compared to a focus on ‘priorities’, ‘delivery’, ‘service’, ‘outcomes’,
‘performance’, ‘people’ and ‘assessment’ within the other unit business plans, see
Figures 2 and 3. It would be beneficial to highlight words that may be uncommon to
other teams or directorates and to provide alternatives, or make it compulsory for
detail to be given about the meanings of uncommon words or synonyms within the
footnotes.
Figure 2: A wordle of the KASS Directorate 2010/11 Business Plan
20
21. Figure 3: A wordle of the CFE Directorate 2010/11 Business Plan
Highlighting Risk Management and Issues
Plans on managing risk within 2010/11 were stated and clearly labelled within some
of the business plans but not all. It is recommended to make this along with stating
expected future barriers and limitations within the business plans compulsory.
Highlighting these barriers may help to forge relationships between units who may be
facing the same barriers, and can instead embrace partnership working in tackling
these issues together.
21
22. Technology Transformation Team Research
Themes
The Technology Transformation Team’s main driver is:
‘Innovations that radically change the way KCC does business by supporting
users/customers/staff and Members to do more for themselves via remote,
transactional channels and thereby empowering them to shape services and
personalise access to information to meet their own needs.’32
Therefore, it is essential for the TT team to fully understand how teams are currently
conducting their work and if they have the potential to benefit from the research into
innovation that will be conducted in the upcoming year. With this in mind, links were
made between the research themes highlighted in the TT Team’s 2010/11
Programme and the Unit and Directorate business plans.
6.1 Smart Phone Applications
There are numerous teams, especially within EHW, looking to promote or share
information about their services in a way that is easily accessible to the general
public. Teams are also looking at ways that their customers can inform them of
changes in the environment and help to shape the services, for example reporting fly
tipping in the local area, which can be achieved through smart phone applications.
6.2 Innovation Playground
Sports, Leisure and Olympics and other teams within the CMY directorate are
interested in a platform that would help them source funding and partners to work
with on projects.
6.3 Virtual Presenter
32
Taken from The Technology Transformation Programme 2010.
22
23. The Virtual Presenter tool may be able to help the several teams looking at different
ways of delivering training, such as online, and Kent Highways Service who are
looking at streamlining their ‘out of hours’ service.
6.4 Co-Creative Working
The Technology Transformation Team has recently hosted two events, ‘Transformed
By You’ and ‘Transformed By You On Campus’ which had a theme of co-creative
working. The Arts Development Team is working on two similar events with the
Dreamland Trust to deliver innovation and creativity within the development of the
Dreamland site, and with National Federation of Artists’ Studio Providers and KADU
to support creative workspace development opportunities. Similarly the Gateway
projects within CED have a theme of co-creative working, but this is not a priority
within the rest of the directorates.
6.5 Dissemination of Ideas
Teams within KCC are mainly disseminating their ideas via newsletters and the web;
although the Comms and Media team (CED) are now embracing social media.
6.6 New Channels
Teams across all the directorates are looking to adopt new channels to engage with
customers and provide cost efficiencies, such as providing digital services, e-
solutions and using social media, however how these are going to be implemented is
generally not specified.
For more detailed information, see Appendix F.
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24. Recommendations
Kent County Council
• To consider including a section on managing risks and potential barriers,
especially with respect to innovation, in the Business Plan structure. This
would be achieved through contacting the individuals responsible for
structuring the business plan and explaining the potential benefits for them to
consider for the 2011/12 business plans.
• To encourage teams to think innovatively when tackling addressing generic
themes such as climate change and sustainability. Many teams merely
stated that they were addressing this issue through reducing office costs, but
more innovative solutions such as tackling behaviour may be more effective
in the long term.
• To recommend that detail be given about the meanings of uncommon words
or synonyms within the footnotes of the business plans. This again would be
achieved through negotiations with the individuals who are responsible for
structuring the business plans.
• To take into account the success of Total Place and the vibrant theme of
other teams within the organisation wanting to work like this, and to look for
further opportunities to encourage this in the future.
Technology Transformation Team
• To determine what needs to be followed up from this report, by whom and
when, especially for the innovative projects highlighted.
• To contact teams highlighted under the Technology Transformation Team
Research Themes to find out more information about their projects and what
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25. is planned for them. For example, Kent Highway Services for smart phone
application.
• To conduct research into the level of technological knowledge outside of the
team and how it impacts innovative projects.
• To produce an information pack on technological solutions to give to teams
within KCC.
• To conduct a research report annually after all the new business plans have
been released, and to compare trends and innovation between KCC business
plans and what is happening with London and nationally.
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