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Thursday 3 July

Jos Creese was confirmed as the chair of the LG CiO Council meeting, which met today. Its minutes will be published in the public area of the Socitm web-site, so I am not going to try and report, in detail, the meeting here. However, there are a few points that I'd like highlight. The first is our determination to be as open as possible about the work we do. It does often seem that Government work on ICT and transformation is its best kept secret, with minutes and reports marked "not for circulation" or otherwise restricted. We want to ensure that Local Government is well informed of developments and able to confidently support and engage in transformational government initiatives.

Paul Davidson, who chairs the "Local Government Reference Group to the Chief Technology Officer Council", came along to describe its work. Essentially, its relationship to the National CTO Council is the same as ours' to the CIO Council. There was a lot of discussion about the various ICT transformation working groups, and we agreed to map the groups, their terms of reference and the local government representative involvement, ensure there is no duplication, and that we have effective representation in all areas. This will also be published on the Socitm web-site.

Two weeks ago, Philip Littleavon, the Government Connect Programme Director, gave Socitm and other stakeholders the opportunity to comment on planned policy announcements on the Government Connect role in Data Handling procedures, which have been developed partly in response to publication of the Hannigan Report, and which will confirm the intended pivotal role of Government Connect in securely processing Government Client information. I wrote expressing reservations, given GC's "long and chequered history", about what now seemed a precipitous move, while supporting the aims of quickly turning the situation around and achieving real benefits - and invited Philip to discuss the proposals with us at today's meeting. He wasn't able to attend personally, but Simon Norbury came along to explain and discuss the plans with us. I have to say that Simon gave the most comprehensive and cohesive explanation of the strategy that I've heard to date. Our feedback was essentially a plea to ensure that communication of the policy to Councils is as effective and well-targeted. (Mark Brett has just delivered a survey of Local Authorities, commissioned by GC, of the help and support that Local Authorities who have not yet engaged in Government Connect, require to do so.)

Wednesday 2 July

Last night I stayed in Hull, and was able to continue getting up-to-date with correspondence, using the hotel's Internet, in the evening and this morning. I then spent a good part of today driving to the National School of Government, at Sunningdale Park, in Ascot, where a Local Government CIO Council is being held tomorrow, starting with a reception and dinner, this evening.

Yesterday, colleagues from Socitm met with Dane Wright, from Brent Council, to discuss taking-on its "e-Government Register" (which, as I previously mentioned, was demonstrated to the last Socitm London Branch meeting) with the aim of migrating our Supplier Index to it. The meeting went well, but there's a fair bit of work to do, so the transition will likely take place over the next year, co-ordinated by a joint board. Steve Pennant offered support from London Connects.

The Public Sector Infrastructure Team met today, but I again missed the meeting. It's currently doing interesting work on Data Centres, Unified Communications, Data Transfer and Public Sector Network, but I am still unclear of the strategic context and fit with other Government Work-Groups, so I'm suggesting a meeting of any Socitm members who are involved in any of the Government Teams to see if we can clarify the relationships.

Tuesday 1 July

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2220346/office-eco-apathy-threatening I thought this story a little dispiriting. I have no great claim to green credentials (I drive a TVR, for heaven's sake!) However, it doesn't take a great deal of effort to adopt green standards that, for the most part, are consistent with efficiency and best practice. Successful society has to be built upon individuals' acceptance of personal responsibility for their actions, rather than "it's someone else's problem".

Today I attended a Socitm Police Group meeting at the Humberside Police Headquarters in Hull. This has only recently become fully operational again following last year's flooding. Many of the people based there are still repairing the damage to their homes, and some haven't yet been able to return home.

The morning was concerned with presentation by representatives of the NPIA (National Policing Improvement Agency), and discussion of, the Gateway process for key-stage project reviews developed by the OGC (Office for Government Commerce) as now being rolled-out through the OGC accredited Police hub. (There are three others, for Health, the Ministry of Defence & Local Government.) Ann Middleton, from the Metropolitan Police, who chairs the Group, commented to the effect that the Gate Five Review process – benefits realisation – could be adapted to review systems already implemented, which I strongly agreed with. Whilst the Gateway Review process was borne from the desire (and need) to avoid the sort of project failures that have gained high media profile, and rightly so, it's still the case that many already implemented systems are used extremely ineffectively, but that doesn't grab the headlines the way big budget project cancellations and failures do!

I undertook to raise Socitm engagement with the Gateway Process – initially at next week's Socitm Futures meeting. It's clearly quite closely aligned with our theme around business engagement/ business efficiency and the need to partner with business to ensure effective exploitation of ICT infrastructure. I'm also interested in the "banking" system originally adopted to support the Review process – whereby Central Government Department's provided personnel to be trained-in and undertake reviews, which roughly equated to the value they received from being the beneficiaries of reviews. It's an approach that the Microsoft Shared Learning Group has also being trying to get off the ground.

After lunch, I outlined Socitm developments and ambitions. As we have set ourselves a target of developing the Society to represent all who work in IT in the Public and Third Sectors, I am particularly keen to get feedback from sectors that are not in the Society's Local Government roots – like Police. I'm glad to say that most of the comments confirmed issues that have already been identified and are either being addressed, or in the pipeline, and there was agreement that we are moving in the right direction. Some of the issues concerned demands on time and the competiveness of our environment,, sector-specific collateral, professional development and the SFIA framework (Skills Framework for the Information Age) – I spoke about our plan to launch a service based on the Aspire packaged software supporting SFIA, developed by Leeds City Council, in September – and continuity of support. Socitm had let the Police Group down, in concerning that last issue, following the retirement of its former national secretary, and I assured the Group of the Board's determination to ensure future continuity of support.

Monday 30 June

A dozen Socitm personnel, including myself, today attended an Insight Marketing Planning meeting. Although the Insight Service was the main object of this session, it was agreed that Insight would represent Socitm as a whole.

Having tripped on an escalator, while at the GMIS Conference, and gashed my thumb to the bone on the sharp edge of a stair-tread, and come home with an achy cold, and developed back-pain that I assume is viral, I was feeling a little below par, which may be why I left without my note-book!

However, from my hazy memory, the meeting agenda was based upon the 10 recommendations that Vicky made to the Insight meeting on 15th May, to which she added a couple. Some key points were:

• Consolidating the multiple databases that Socitm has in its various services.
• Ensuring that services work effectively together to realise, for example, the consultancy opportunities that may arise though publication of an Insight Research report.
• New CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and CMS (Content Management System) requirements to facilitate more effective marketing. (Initial proposals will be discussed at next week's Board meeting.)
• Developing our research and publishing programme around key Socitm themes.
• Being flexible enough to rapidly respond to developments in our environment.
• The enlarged market potential arising from our ambition to extend the Society's scope to cover the whole of the public and third sectors.

My main wish for the meeting was to consider how we can continue to increase transparency of our operations and demonstrate that we are member led in the way we respond to our market. That means not only ensuring that every e-publication includes a feedback mechanism, but also ensuring that members know how to comment on services, or suggest a new line of research, or how they can assist or represent the Society.

As I was catching-up with recent news, the suggestion that, until now, has passed me, and presumably many others, by – that employees should own their own "tools" - http://www.cio.co.uk/concern/change/news/index.cfm?articleid=2932&pagtype=allchandate – is one I think has a lot of merit. It fits well with the need for all "white collar" workers to recognise their dependence on IT and invest in their own capabilities to exploit the technology and, eradicates the timeless challenges about the corporate contract and/ or available form-factors, as well as promoting greater ownership of security issues, as suggested in the article.