Two trends affecting local authorities and other public sector bodies have been notable in recent years; the growing availability of technology and the need to keep everything functioning despite cuts to government grants. - See more at: http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/better-data-use-hailed-as-way-of-making-councils-more-efficient

1. @StoretecHull
www.storetec.net
Facebook.com/storetec
Storetec Services Limited
Better data use hailed as way of making councils more efficient
Two trends affecting local authorities and other public sector bodies
have been notable in recent years; the growing availability of
technology and the need to keep everything functioning despite cuts
to government grants.

2. Blogging for the Guardian, cabinet member for finance at the London
Borough of Camden Theo Blackwell said the best way forward is to
make the most of the data revolution, as this is a very effective way of
becoming more efficient and achieving the challenge of doing as many
things while having less money.
Mr Blackwell noted that budget cuts have focused minds, with the
borough adopting an approach used by former New York mayor
Michael Bloomberg in creating a "geek squad" to handle data better
and convert this into service delivery.

3. Discussing how Camden has created its own group of specialists in
this area, he explained the rationale behind the move. "Local
authorities do more than emptying the bins and cleaning the streets
and the bulk of our budgets are devoted not to pavements, but to taking
care of vulnerable families, older people in care and the public health of
our citizens," he said.
"This area involves the collection of vast amounts of data, in often
confusing formats. But what we know about our borough's 230,000
residents is staggering.

4. "Contained in our servers is information about the payment of council
tax; the number of seizures; repairs done to pavements; incidence and
location of dog mess; truancy; food safety; planning consents;
injunctions against tenants."
Summarising the need to capture and make the most of big data, Mr
Blackwell said the team of technology experts will undoubtedly have a
key role to play. "Geeks know we won't get through a decade of budget
cuts of this scale without a new approach, but realise that it isn't just
austerity which is happening to public services – it is the digital
revolution."

5. Noting how the council has already worked with think-tank the Big
Innovation Centre (BIC) and others to work out how best to use data to
make services more cost-efficient, Mr Blackwell said the use of more
data has helped with forward planning to the point where 27 priority
areas of spending in the budget – such as poverty, childcare and
housing – are now being treated as investment areas, with defined
measures of success for each.
Among the benefits of this will be the opportunity to examine whether
or not these initiatives are bearing fruit. Where they are not, sending
can be curbed and shifted to other areas where it is proving more
beneficial.

6. Indeed, the plan – which was launched last year – has already
undergone its first annual review, where the available data has been
used to show how the information has been put to use to assess
progress towards the 27 goals. Data on the council's performance will
also be regularly updated online.
The event involving the BIC last year – described as a "hack" day –
was the first annual event to help the local authority to work out ways of
using its data better. The second will see members of the public being
allowed to contribute their own thoughts to the process.

7. To do all this will require considerable back-up to the council's data
systems, of course. As well as making large quantities of information
available instantly, this will also need to be well protected, a move that
could be achieved through the use of remote data storage facilities.
Items of paperwork from the council's postbag – be it council tax forms,
planning applications or any other physical information – can be
digitised and stored in a form that is both accessible and safe, in the
event that problems such as fire and flood at council offices should
occur.

8. Local authorities like Camden are far from alone in the public sector in
highlighting the potential benefits of using data more and in smarter
ways. In a report published in September, Think Tank the Policy
Exchange said central government could also cut costs with a shift to
paperless offices, having the capacity to save Whitehall as much as
£70 billion by 2020.
It identified the Crown Prosecution Service and the Driving and Vehicle
Licensing Authority as bodies whose cost base could be curbed by
cutting out the large amount of paper documentation they issue.

9. According to the latest ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business
Confidence Monitor, UK business optimism is now at a ten-year high
and the British economy is set to be the strongest-performing in the
advanced industrialised world by the end of 2013
Storetec News/Blogs “
http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/better-data-use-hailed-as-way-of-ma
”. Better data use hailed as way of making councils more efficient.
November 12, 2013. Storetec.

10. According to the latest ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business
Confidence Monitor, UK business optimism is now at a ten-year high
and the British economy is set to be the strongest-performing in the
advanced industrialised world by the end of 2013
Storetec News/Blogs “
http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/better-data-use-hailed-as-way-of-ma
”. Better data use hailed as way of making councils more efficient.
November 12, 2013. Storetec.