Progress on LOTI’s Covid Innovation Fund projects

Last week the Covid Innovation Fund data project group reconvened to learn from colleagues at Westminster about their previous work, approach and findings having developed detailed personas and data models about digitally excluded communities. The project will seek to conduct more research into those personas, develop the data model further and scale it to other participating boroughs. The Westminster team shared details about how they approached this work, their timeline for delivery, who they engaged with, as well as the resources they could share with other boroughs to replicate and build on this work.

The project group, which consists of colleagues from Barnet, Brent, Kensington and Chelsea, Southwark and Westminster is currently agreeing on next steps on the allocation of the project budget and who will lead on what. For more details on this project, be sure to check out the dedicated project page.

Electronic Vehicle (EV) Charge Points

LOTI, London Councils, and the GLA met with borough transport leads last week to review the electric vehicle charge point dashboard developed to support boroughs in their strategic planning of future EV points. Boroughs shared feedback on the usability of the dashboard and their suggestions for which additional datasets would provide a richer picture at a local level.

Building on LOTI’s Tender Wording for Data Access and API Requirements, the project team shared their thinking about specific terms relating to EV charge points, that could be incorporated into all future charge point contracts. In the coming weeks, we’ll share a draft of this document, which is likely to include the following:

• Use of the London DataStore as a portal for sharing EV charge point location and usage data
• Use of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to create automatic data feeds to the London DataStore
• Use of a consistent set of descriptors (geospatial location) and units of measurement for the usage.

Innovation in Procurement

In case you missed it, early last week LOTI shared an open invitation with small and innovative companies to showcase their software solutions relevant to local authorities’ housing services needs. In a project led by Hounslow, LOTI is currently working with several other boroughs that are due to procure housing services management software systems in the near future to write an outcomes-based tender specification and engage the market more effectively.

As part of this work, we’re interested to learn more about the range and capabilities of smaller, innovative suppliers who serve this market. Boroughs are specifically interested in learning more about tools that can help them achieve outcomes in the following four areas: Tenancy services; Leaseholder services, Homelessness services and Asset management. To find out more about this project and how you can share details about your offer to boroughs, please read this blog here.

To support our wider piece of work on Innovation in Procurement, we have developed a Forum. In our first meeting last week, chaired by Paul Neville (Director Digital and ICT for Waltham Forest), we shared our draft Terms of Reference, gave an update on the Innovation in Housing procurement project led by Hounslow, and shared details of boroughs’ upcoming contracts that expire in the next 12-18 months. This last item is a recommendation made in the report for our founding City Tools project and one that we are particularly keen on progressing in the future.

Other things we got up to last week

Last week we also:

1. Reconvened our network of Data Managers and Analysts in London boroughs to share their approaches to managing surge testing and their thinking around contingency plans if a Covid variant of concern is picked up in a London borough. The full recording is now available here.
2. Hosted a show & tell where Andrew Parsons (Internet of Things (IoT) Programme Manager) and Bradley Coupar (Social Worker – Digital and IoT specialist) for the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and London Borough of Sutton shared an update on the South London Partnership’s InnOvate programme, the Assistive Technology pilot to support vulnerable people during Covid, and what’s coming next. The full recording is now available here.
3. Archived one of our founding projects, the Digital Apprenticeships project, with a retro blog that can be read here.

Coming up this week

This week, we’ll be:

1. Meeting with colleagues from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to plan LOTI’s contribution to the Digital Access for All mission. Our thinking to date can be accessed here.
2. Meeting with our members to share updates on projects.
3. Joining the LOTI Covid Innovation Fund data and digital project meetings to discuss next steps, catch up on the progress of the projects and strategise how to allocate funding to kick off work in respective boroughs.

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