Covid Innovation Fund – Mapping Digital Exclusion with Data

The data project, which was put forward by Barnet, Brent, Kensington and Chelsea, Southwark and Westminster, seeks to build a publicly available map on the London DataStore that will help London boroughs to identify areas of digital exclusion, the key groups affected, and the types of needs they may have.

The intention is for this map to be published alongside a toolkit and methodology to support London boroughs to understand and validate the process for themselves. The methodology will also guide boroughs to potentially replicate the analysis in their own local areas.

Last week, we met with Paul Hodgson (Senior Manager – City Data, Greater London Authority) who shared the first iteration of the digital exclusion map for London for review. Paul highlighted the need for additional data sets to support the project group to get a deeper understanding of the spatial distribution of digital exclusion in London.

The project group have since agreed on the following list of project deliverables:

• Public Map of Digital Exclusion across London
• Mapping Methodology
• ‘Phase 2’ Quantitative Analysis into nuanced aspects of digital exclusion
• Qualitative research into interventions for key groups
• Digital Inclusion Persona Bank
• Digital Exclusion Mapping Toolkit – how to map digital inclusion and what the data can tell you about the spatial distribution and needs of key groups and personas

For more information on this project, please visit the dedicated project page here.

Covid Innovation Fund – Preventative approach for supporting vulnerable residents

The digital project for the Covid Innovation Fund seeks to develop a preventative approach for supporting vulnerable residents. This project was put forward by Newham and Hackney. Following the findings from the discovery phase, both councils are now testing different approaches to helping vulnerable residents get the support that they need.

We hosted a second show & tell where we heard first-hand from Hackney’s Zoe Tyndall and Claudia Knowles, and Newham’s Helena Taylor, Phil Veasey and Malathy Muthu. Colleagues from Newham shared progress on the training they had developed, and Hackney colleagues shared further details about the potential to create new ‘Link worker’ roles in response to the fact that referrals alone cannot solve the problem. The Mural board being presented in the show and tell can be accessed here.

This project group are also in the process of agreeing the following as project deliverables:

• A digital tool (beta phase) used by council staff to support vulnerable residents before they reach crisis point, including the following:
• Open source code
• Project documentation (user stories and wireframes)
• Service manual
• Key contacts for the partner development agency and Hackney ICT

A toolkit consisting of project resources that can be reused by other councils in implementing this preventative approach, including:

• Survey questions
• Research guides
• Workshop formats
• Peer support session (structure and approach)
• Tool onboarding plan
• Link worker model

A ‘train the trainer’ toolkit for setting up and conduction training sessions with staff.

For more information on this project, please visit the project page here.

Coming up this week

It’s a busy week for the LOTI Central team. This week, we will be:

1. Meeting with our Advisory Panel to get their strategic views on the future of work in London local government. The full agenda can be read here.
2. Holding a workshop for Digital Inclusion leads in London boroughs and their Voluntary and Charity Sector partners. Please click here to register to attend. We’ll also be running a workshop exercise at the Pan-London Digital Inclusion Working Group.
3. Holding our latest Data Science Network meet-up, where we’ll be getting the latest by way of boroughs’ priorities and challenges, and also sharing the latest update on the ONS training programme. Please click here to register to attend.
4. Meeting with our members to share project updates and plan for our third year in office.
5. Supporting a pre-tender market engagement session with Housing Management Suppliers that are part of the DAS Framework, administered by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS). Please click here to register to attend.

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