Digital Maturity Analysis of English Local Authorities
National, International & Research Group | UK Government Digital Service,
4 minute read
Analysing the current state of digital maturity was across all UK local authorities
Summary
- Having the right people in the right roles has the biggest impact on digital maturity
- Strong evidence of collaboration and partnerships are an enabler to improving digital maturity
- Budgets and deprivation do not directly affect digital transformation
- Having the right people in the right roles has the biggest impact on digital maturity
- Strong evidence of collaboration and partnerships are an enabler to improving digital maturity
- Budgets and deprivation do not directly affect digital transformation
The Problem
As the Government Digital Service we support digital transformation across the public sector. With 343 separate local authorities this would mean a large resource was needed and it would lead to a delay in being able to support these organisations on their digital journey. We needed to find out what the current state of digital maturity was across all these local authorities, and what the most mature authorities had in common, so we could target our resources and efforts to be as effective as possible.
As the Government Digital Service we support digital transformation across the public sector. With 343 separate local authorities this would mean a large resource was needed and it would lead to a delay in being able to support these organisations on their digital journey. We needed to find out what the current state of digital maturity was across all these local authorities, and what the most mature authorities had in common, so we could target our resources and efforts to be as effective as possible.
The Approach
To carry out the maturity analysis we used the five principles of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Governments Local Digital Declaration, namely:
- Evidence of being user centred
- Evidence of using digital standards
- Evidence of best practice for data sharing
- Evidence of strong digital leadership
- Evidence of working in the open
We only used public available data that we could obtain for the local authorities. This was then used to score the organisations on a set of metrics based on the principles.
The metrics that we used looked at their user research practices, their adoption of Agile and Cloud First approaches. Use of Open Source code and prioritising SME’s in their procurement. It also covered published information and evidence of data sharing, digital strategies and demonstrating leadership either politically with dedicated portfolios or corporately with a specific directorate . And finally whether there is evidence of them working collaboratively and communicating their work to their own stakeholders.
As we did this usually publicly available information, rather than a deep dive into practices, this analysis didn’t take in to account the quality of any work that is taking place but instead just that these principles are being used or considered.
To carry out the maturity analysis we used the five principles of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Governments Local Digital Declaration, namely:
- Evidence of being user centred
- Evidence of using digital standards
- Evidence of best practice for data sharing
- Evidence of strong digital leadership
- Evidence of working in the open
We only used public available data that we could obtain for the local authorities. This was then used to score the organisations on a set of metrics based on the principles.
The metrics that we used looked at their user research practices, their adoption of Agile and Cloud First approaches. Use of Open Source code and prioritising SME’s in their procurement. It also covered published information and evidence of data sharing, digital strategies and demonstrating leadership either politically with dedicated portfolios or corporately with a specific directorate . And finally whether there is evidence of them working collaboratively and communicating their work to their own stakeholders.
As we did this usually publicly available information, rather than a deep dive into practices, this analysis didn’t take in to account the quality of any work that is taking place but instead just that these principles are being used or considered.
The Results
Once we completed the analysis we saw the the strengths across local government were:
- Working together, including very wide national collaboration
- Having an up-to date digital strategy setting out the digital aims of the authority
Where organisations were the weakest though included:
- Being able to demonstrate good visible leadership for digital transformation
- Communicating the work they are doing and how the achieve it
- Having digital, data and technology (DDaT) roles embedded within the organisation to allow digital transformation
The absence of DDaT roles, generally recognised as being due to not having the financial resources, has been mitigated by regions where user research and insights work is carried out across multiple authorities. This enables them to use a UCD approach to services even when they don’t directly have user researchers employed. Collaboration is key within the Local Digital Declaration and our analysis found signatories to the declaration had a higher maturity score to those that didn’t
The majority of the top scoring authorities had a dedicated Director for Digital or an elected member with responsibility. It is rare to see this though and does separate the high maturity authorities and the lowes. While visible leadership could be either elected members or officers the presence of a dedicated accountable elected member is unusual. But, the top five local authorities all had an elected member portfolio for digital. Authorities that could demonstrate visible leadership scored 50% higher than those that didn’t.
There are lots of factors which can affect an authorities digital maturity but the running theme through this work was how important the right people are. Those who are able to see the benefits of wider collaboration work and are visible enough to be held accountable for the transformation journey. When this happens there is a real possibility of seeing a jump in digital maturity.
Having carried out this analysis we could start to see the limitations to local authorities on being able to build out their own new services and why they have become reliant on their large suppliers and legacy systems.
Once we completed the analysis we saw the the strengths across local government were:
- Working together, including very wide national collaboration
- Having an up-to date digital strategy setting out the digital aims of the authority
Where organisations were the weakest though included:
- Being able to demonstrate good visible leadership for digital transformation
- Communicating the work they are doing and how the achieve it
- Having digital, data and technology (DDaT) roles embedded within the organisation to allow digital transformation
The absence of DDaT roles, generally recognised as being due to not having the financial resources, has been mitigated by regions where user research and insights work is carried out across multiple authorities. This enables them to use a UCD approach to services even when they don’t directly have user researchers employed. Collaboration is key within the Local Digital Declaration and our analysis found signatories to the declaration had a higher maturity score to those that didn’t
The majority of the top scoring authorities had a dedicated Director for Digital or an elected member with responsibility. It is rare to see this though and does separate the high maturity authorities and the lowes. While visible leadership could be either elected members or officers the presence of a dedicated accountable elected member is unusual. But, the top five local authorities all had an elected member portfolio for digital. Authorities that could demonstrate visible leadership scored 50% higher than those that didn’t.
There are lots of factors which can affect an authorities digital maturity but the running theme through this work was how important the right people are. Those who are able to see the benefits of wider collaboration work and are visible enough to be held accountable for the transformation journey. When this happens there is a real possibility of seeing a jump in digital maturity.
Having carried out this analysis we could start to see the limitations to local authorities on being able to build out their own new services and why they have become reliant on their large suppliers and legacy systems.
Next Steps
We are now able to direct our resources in a more efficient way having carried out the analysis. To do this we will:
- Share our findings with local authorities so they can reflect on their individual circumstances and how they can incorporate the findings to support their transformation
- Look to see how we can work with suppliers to start using digital standards and common components to allow lower maturity authorities access to services that they can quickly onboard when they don’t have the skills required internally to build their own
If you would like to view the full results of the digital maturity analysis including a video then this has been published on the Government Digital Services GitHub. You can also take a look at the Local Digital Declaration.
We are now able to direct our resources in a more efficient way having carried out the analysis. To do this we will:
- Share our findings with local authorities so they can reflect on their individual circumstances and how they can incorporate the findings to support their transformation
- Look to see how we can work with suppliers to start using digital standards and common components to allow lower maturity authorities access to services that they can quickly onboard when they don’t have the skills required internally to build their own
If you would like to view the full results of the digital maturity analysis including a video then this has been published on the Government Digital Services GitHub. You can also take a look at the Local Digital Declaration.