Socitm Blog

Four new members were recommended and endorsed: two from District Councils (Nick Blaney and Kevin Powell), strengthening the representation of that sector, and two from Health (Max Jones and Robert Edmondson-Jones), to provide representation for Health.

Briefing from John Borras (Chair Transformational Government Framework - TGF Technical Committee) and Chris Parker (TGF Co-editor) from Oasis considered the challenges of implementing 'Planting the Flag' - how do we evidence success?LCIOC agreed that TGF from OASIS could be valuable, but should be tested in one area on a low cost or pro-bono basis.

Planting the Flag Implementation update:

• Leadership - Good work in Scotland on a national LG ICT Strategy was noted and should be shared, IBM partnership on 'Talent Management' and work is underway to carry through common leadership themes from the annual SOLACE Summit.
• Governance - Implementation pressing ahead in Scotland.Need to target policy managers, CXs, LGA, heads of governance, politicians.
• Organisational change - Glyn Evans is preparing a review of change management methodologies.
• Strategic sourcing - Much work underway and a draft Pocket Guide emerging.This is one of the most important guides in defining how the public and private sectors need to work together to increase value from IT investment.Involvement of private sector partners to contribute will be important.It was agreed to involve Intellect, Socitm Premium partners and Scottish partners as well as government procurement networks and regional framework agencies. The draft has been shared with LGDC members for comments.
• Shared Services - Pocket Guide and Knowledge Hub presence is underway.
• Professionalism - Whilst people talk about the importance of the topic, they seem less willing to invest time and effort.More promotion is needed with HR colleagues.IT capability is a key to success and needs a greater focus on professionalism.This includes access to professional development.The 'Top Talent' programme is proving popular and successful.Noted that 'ICT professionalism' has to be more about 'business' application of ICT, not technology skills.
• Infrastructure - Progressing well, and much debate on PSN, data centre consolidation, Cloud and more.Discussion including cross sector work (e.g. Connecting for Health) and non-IT business links (e.g. Health and Social Care directors).Agreed important to link to Health 'N4' network procurement to reduce duplication and increase simplicity of data sharing.Local specialists will be sought to engage in the procurement and to ensure a focus on real applications and problems.Consideration will be given to writing an open letter from LCIOC to Government Ministers.Cloudstore is progressing well, although with little supplier engagement in accreditation.A number of Council members are already using Cloudstore successfully as a low-cost and quick procurement mechanism.

Andy Nelson (Government CIO) gave an update on Government ICT Strategy progress, plans and where local public services are impacted.Key priority:Hosted consolidation agenda, PSN, Cloudstore, end user devices.Focus now is on implementation.This includes standards consultation.Culture and governance often get in the way (e.g. in being more agile).Green Delivery Unit has been re-energised with guidance and measurement - partly a by-product of consolidating ICT and enabling smarter working.Government Digital Strategy also in development and needs linking.Professionalism is a high priority and needs real action to drive forward change. He was keen that the Strategy links to wider Civil Service reform and business change, and to describe outcomes in user terms (citizen, CIO, IT professional, supplier, etc.). Finally, he welcomed engagement with LCIOC, especially around speed of implementation.

Andrew Waterston (Dept. of Justice) joined the meeting to cover 'Infrastructure Consolidation'.Scope of the programme is limited to Central Government, but he was keen to see extension to local government where consolidation is also a priority to save money and realise greater value from the small number of large hosting suppliers.This could include new sourcing strategies and sharing of toolkits (e.g. Wales) that address requirements, legal models, etc.