Broadcasts

Weekly Broadcast  Wednesday 20 April 2011

Making public services 'digital by default': new Socitm guide explains the why and the how

What is the case for making public services 'digital by default', as UK Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox is urging, and what do organisations need to be doing to make them so?

These key questions are answered in a new 24pp guide from Socitm Insight called Digital by default - why and how: a guide for local public service management teams.

The guide draws on two recent reports from Socitm that focus on customer management in local authorities, the quality of their websites, and their readiness to make significant efficiencies by making shifting customer enquiries to the web and making services 'digital by default'.

Socitm Insight will be presenting different aspects of these ideas from 'Digital by default' at two forthcoming events:

24 May: Learning from Better connected 2011 at Manchester Conference Centre, Manchester M1 3BB

7 June: Building website take-up and citizen e-engagement at The Studio, Birmingham B2 5EP

More on these events can be found at www.socitm.net/events

Digital by default - why and how: a guide for local public service management teams is a 24pp guide, and can be downloaded from www.socitm.net free of charge by Socitm Insight subscribers. It costs £50 for others (£40 Socitm members) and can be ordered from www.socitm.net

Weekly Broadcast  Thursday 14 April 2011

Local Transparency - A Practitioners Guide to Publishing New Contracts and Tenders Data

During December and January a consultation process was completed and by taking on board the feedback from this, this practitioners guide has been redrafted. The new guide is now available on a read and comment site LG Transparency.

The guide offers practical help to meet the requirement for local authorities to publish new contracts and tenders data. It also suggests approaches that will add most value for local people and public services over the longer term.

It suggests:

• What data to publish.
• How to publish this data online in an open format.
• What to consider in publishing; including data protection and licensing.
• How to make enable more constructive use of the data as Linked Data.

The guide has been produced by the Local Government Group in partnership with Socitm, the Local eGovernment Standards Body (LeGSB), the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships (RIEPs) and Local Councils. It builds on Local Public Data Panel work, pioneering work by some local councils, Treasury guidance to central government departments, relevant research and the experience of data users both in and outside the public sector. The guide is not exhaustive, nor a mandatory requirement, but offers a frame of reference, covering the key areas to consider.

Routemap and feedback on the Government ICT Strategy

Socitm meets with Government Deputy CIO, to discuss the 'fit' of our draft Routemap with the Government ICT Strategy.

Socitm recently met with the Government Deputy CIO. Discussion was around our draft Routemap and feedback on the Government ICT Strategy. It has been agreed Socitm will meet regularly with the Cabinet Office to progress local public service ICT issues at a strategic level.

A copy of the letter can be found at Socitm.net

Weekly Broadcast  Thursday 7 April 2011

Application Register

The Applications Register holds information from over 500 organisations. It records feedback on 2000 software products used by the public sector. Get more value from Socitm's Applications Register by advertising intended purchases through Socitm Direct. The Applications Register allows you to post details of planned purchases of any value. This means that other public sector organisations can see what you want to buy, allowing you to get together with others to run a joint procurement. This can lead to lower cost due to increased order size, a single procurement for multiple organisations, lower management and maintenance costs.

Coming soon.

From May this year, hardware and IT service information will also be available through Socitm Direct, facilitating joint procurement in these areas. 

For more Information about the Application Register: applicationsregister@socitm.net

Councils Urged to Share Web Sites

ITWeb today published an article 'Councils Urged to Share Web Sites' which, focuses on UK authorities looking to cuts costs by encouraging self-service on the Web and the need for them to be looking to share their Web sites with other organisations.

For more information on this subject download the latest Soctim's Insight briefing 'Better websites: sharing content, applications and resources'.
(Please note, this report is only available to Insight subscribers).
Such focal issues will also be covered at Socitm's 2011 Spring Conference next month, for further details about this event and to book your place click here.

Making a Difference with Data - policy event video, slides etc available

How can open data deliver useful resources for people who want to change things? A set of videos from the citizen activist perspective (William Perrin of Talk about Local) the councillor perspective (Darren Johnson, Lewisham and GLA), the council officer perspective (David Wilde, CIO Westminster) and the journalist Michael Cross ( founder of the Free our Data campaign). Plus keynote presentation from Emer Coleman, Director of Digital Projects at the GLA and sessions on housing, education, health and the police. Go to the Making A Difference With Data website.