Weeknote 12 of 2022
Below is the latest news from the LOTI community, based on the activities we worked on during the week commencing 28 March.
Helping boroughs recruit better
In a recent blog post, we outlined 10 things that LOTI is doing to help boroughs access the talent they need in the fields of digital, data and innovation. In the face of stiff salary competition from the private sector, boroughs need to think innovatively about how they attract and retain people with the right potential and skills.
One specific intervention involves hiring the services of two recruitment firms. We’re delighted that Joanne Cumper of the East Peninsula Training Company will be working with LOTI five days a month for the rest of the year. Joanne will support LOTI members to improve their recruitment processes, help them write better JDs, promote their jobs via the LOTI jobs board, support the design and running of career days and headhunt for senior, hard-to-fill roles.
Meanwhile, Lawrence Longstaff and his team at CHR Solutions will be supporting our community by salary benchmarking key roles, creating new exemplar job descriptions where quality ones are lacking, reviewing how we can improve our library of digital, tech and data job descriptions, and creating a comprehensive guide to using apprenticeships to fund the training of new and existing staff. The results of this work will be shared openly to benefit the whole local government community.
Digital Needs Assessment Tool Show and Tell
On Tuesday, we were pleased to host Nick Wolff from Southwark Council for a Show and Tell of their Digital Skills Needs Assessment Tool. This tool was developed by the Southwark Essential Digital Skills Group to support their aim of ensuring all Southwark residents can develop the essential digital skills they need for their daily lives and work. It is based on the National essential digital skills framework and allows borough practitioners to measure the digital skills levels of their residents, in order to better coordinate support. To find out more, please watch this recording of the session.
Creating the first ever pan-London Information Governance role
One of LOTI’s first ever projects was working to standardise boroughs’ approach to information governance – the process which by organisations assure that they are using and sharing data in a legal, secure and appropriate way.
Over the past three months, this work received a major boost during a pilot in which we had a dedicated person providing information governance advice at a pan-London level for London’s many data sharing projects. Funded by LOTI, the GLA and the Metropolitan Police Service, we were delighted to work with Sarah Laws, Data Protection and FOI/EIR Lead at London Borough of Camden, who spent three days per week from the start of January until end of March working to finalise 15 data sharing agreements (DSAs) that are critical for enabling local public services.
Having proven the benefits of having someone looking after IG at a whole-city level, we’re now working on the job description and business case for London’s first ever pan-London Information Governance role. More details to follow soon.
Data Leaders
Talking of data collaboration, last week LOTI’s Data Leaders community of practice met to discuss a proposed collaborative data project that responds to new requirements set out in The Environment Act 2021. The project would involve developing pan-London waste and recycling usage predictions, building on existing GLA population and demographic projections. The insights could support councils in commissioning the new waste services that will be required to collect different waste types at the curbside from all properties including flats. Any boroughs interested in this idea should contact jay.saggar@loti.london.
The session was Yogita Popat’s last as chair as she has a new role as AD for Sustainability and Insight at Barnet. Congratulations Yogita!
Coming up this week
This week, the team will be:
- Meeting with all our member boroughs to bring them up to speed on projects and connect them to the recruitment support outlined above.
- Running workshops with the London Environment Directors’ Group in advance of a major design sprint we’re holding in May to bring digital and data innovation to support London’s net-zero targets.
- Presenting our latest plans to create a Digital Inclusion Service for London at a meeting of the Digital Exclusion Taskforce.
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Eddie Copeland