2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Carmelo Garcia)
It’s no accident Gloucestershire County Council is solvent and is not facing bankruptcy like other authorities across the UK. This is the view of (C, Severn) who wants to cement and build on the authority’s good track record with a data driven transformation programme. approved yesterday (September 18) the adoption and implementation of its data and intelligence strategy.
While cabinet also heard how the financial position is very stable and the council is forecast to deliver £25.584 million in savings while with another £600k surplus being set aside to be spent on services. “Gloucestershire County Council is solvent, that is not an accident,” Cllr Davies said.
“That is thanks to the relentless hard work of my predecessor. "We are going to formalise that. I have appointed Stephan Fifiled (C, Pittville and Prestbury) as my deputy with responsibility for transformation.
“The mantra here is data driven, continuous improvement across the council.” The former cabinet member responsible for children services said they had no choice to be data driven. But having been through the experience of coming out of inadequate rating they produced the data for Ofsted he believes that level of disciplined use of data to drive imrpovements should be spread across the entire council.
“After we got out of inadequate, we started to produce the data to run the business better,” he said. “If you look at much of this council it is not regulated. We don’t have that same discipline.
“We are going to drive to have a better understanding of the data. Then we are going to look at how we get better and better. “It’s not about people working harder, it's about how we use technology better, look at good processes and never stop.
It’s a cultural change that I think will take five years.” The council’s data and intelligence strategy has four priority development areas include ensuring the authority’s data is accurate, consistent, complete, timely, and relevant, and that intelligence produced from it meets the needs and expectations of service users and customers. The council will look to increase the skills and confidence of staff, by providing them with the training, tools, and support they require to use data and intelligence effectively to improve productivity and efficiency.
And the authority will improve the availability and accessibility of data and information, making it easier to find, share, and reuse across the organisation and with partners. The council would also strengthen governance and security, by ensuring that it had the policies, standards, and processes to manage, protect, and comply with best practice and regulation. The strategy establishes an initial timeline for key developments, the first of which will be a more detailed roadmap and investment plan to deliver the strategy.
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