• five years of e-government has left local government ICT with considerable capacity to deal with ongoing modernisation programme for public services
• ICT managers look to efficiencies, smarter procurement and shared service arrangements to make more of reduced resources
• Modernisation higher than ever on the agenda as transformation is considered at Member and Chief Officer level in almost 50% of councils
• local government ICT revenue & capital spend shows predicted reduction following end of e-government – at £2.7bn, 2006/07 spend forecast is below 2004 levels

Five years of growth attributable to e-government programmes across the UK has left local government ICT departments with considerable capacity to enable them to pursue the modernisation programme for public services which is ongoing in the UK.

This is one of the key findings to emerge from the latest edition of the Society of IT Management’s annual IT Trends survey published on 11 January. The survey report IT Trends 2006/7 – The Modernisation of Public Services is based on responses to a lengthy questionnaire sent to heads of ICT in the 475 local authorities of England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Surveys were also sent to selected police forces, fire services and other public bodies. Benchmark Data provided by Socitm members and pay data were also used. In total over 200 authorities have contributed to this year’s report. 

The survey shows that, following the end of the IEG programme in England and its associated targets, a predicted fall in local government ICT revenue & capital spend has indeed taken place. At a predicted £2.7bn in 2006/7, spend is back to just below 2004 levels.  Growth in staffing for ICT has also come to an abrupt end with reduction in the number of consultants employed accounting for most of the change.

However, based on responses from participating ICT managers and evidence from benchmarking and other performance data collected by Socitm during 2006, IT Trends 2006/7 suggests that despite static or reducing resources, local authority ICT functions will continue to play a central role in delivering modern, fit for purpose public services.

Redeployment and efficiency savings are expected to contribute to meeting the resource gap. There is consensus amongst survey respondents that that more value could be squeezed from better procurement of technology, an element that IT Trends values at some £22m.

IT managers, says the report, are also ‘fairly positive’ about shared services as means to deliver efficiency.  However, because local authorities need to realise the return on investment of their existing infrastructure before moving to a shared environment, efficiencies from this source will not be possible overnight, and moves direction will need to be underpinned by an effective long term sourcing strategy. Sharing staff resources over a region or even wider may offer further large savings, says the report, while doing things once and sharing the solution with the whole of the government sector may offer another good way forward.

Partnerships and outsourcing are the other strategies most mentioned by ICT managers considering ways of bridging the resource gap, and information is provided in the report about the nature and scope of such arrangements based on responses from 51 authorities that have external service provision of some sort in place.

Some other potential opportunities for generating better value and greater efficiencies do not feature significantly within ICT departments at present, says the report. Although open source software is increasingly being used by public sector organisations around the world to reduce the cost of IT, this is not the case within UK local authorities, where there is little evidence of its adoption, and its acceptability for business critical applications and office systems is very low. 

Use of channel management as a means to reduce costs in handling customer information and transaction requirements, is another opportunity local authorities do not appear to be exploiting at present. IT Trends survey returns suggest that many local authorities are not currently monitoring channel use despite well-known variations in cost associated with different channels and the opportunity for faster and better service delivery.

This could change in future as initiatives to transform local authority services are being taken at a higher level than was generally the case with ‘e-government’. The IT Trends survey suggests that almost half of councils are now actively considering transformation at Member or Chief Officer level. Another potentially encouraging indicator, given that good governance of ICT is vital to ensure that the ICT function properly supports the business activity of the organisation, is that some 65% of local authorities have reviewed their ICT governance arrangements in the eighteen months to December 2006.

According to Socitm President Peter Ryder, the message from IT Trends 2006/7 is highly positive: ‘It shows that ICT departments have the capacity and capability to deliver what is required to meet the transformation agenda in local government. Moreover, on key transformational issues like customer-centricity and shared services, IT Trends shows that ICT managers have a demonstrably positive and open-minded approach.’

Copies of the report, IT Trends 2006/7 – The Modernisation of Public Services which is published on CD-ROM only, and available from January 11, costs £300 to commercial organisations (£450 for the report and data), and £250 to Socitm subscribers. Local authorities and other not-for-profit organisations can buy the report for £100 and the report and data for £200. Copies can be ordered from www.socitm.gov.uk or from the Socitm Office on 01604 674800.

Press enquiries:

Further information about IT Trends 2006/07 – The Modernisation of Public Services and press copies of the executive briefing (pdf format) are available now.

John Serle, IT Trends Editor
Tel: 07867 907372  email: john.serle@socitm.gov.uk

Vicky Sargent, Socitm Press Officer
Tel: 0845 094 5641  email: vicky.sargent@socitm.gov.uk

Notes for Editors

Socitm has carried out a survey of “IT Trends in Local Government” every year since 1987.  The 2006 survey (the 20th edition) is based on responses to a lengthy questionnaire sent to heads of ICT in the 475 local authorities of England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.  Surveys were also sent to selected police forces, fire services and other public bodies. Benchmark Data provided by Socitm members and pay data have also been used. In total over 200 authorities have contributed to this year’s report.  An executive summary of the survey findings is produced specifically for councillors, senior officers and policy makers in local government, focussing on key implications for local authorities and omitting the technical detail.

The Society of IT Management (Socitm) is the professional association representing managers with responsibility for ICT strategy and management within local authorities and other public services. Its vision is the transformation of public services through the effective application of ICT. With approximately 2000 members from 450 different organisations including 95% of all UK local authorities, Socitm provides a widely respected forum for the promotion, use and development of ICT best practice. It is also playing a leading role in supporting the transformation of local authorities and other public services in the UK though ICT facilitated change.