Coming out of the Shadows — Public Sector Digital Midlands

My name is Jane Fallon and I’m Head of Digital at the Office of the Public Guardian. My wonderful team are based in Brum and Nottingham — both great cities with a wealth of talent. According to Stack Overflow there are more developers in Brum than any other city in the UK. There’s amazing space up for grabs, a real buzz to the city, and 5G coming our way, baby!

Sometimes it’s a great idea that prompts action. Other times it’s a burning resentment and sense of injustice. Quite honestly, with me, it was a bit of both. And that’s how Public Sector Digital Midlands was born. Narked at the way the Midlands is often ‘skipped’ over, excited by the potential of the Local Government Digital Declaration and, quite frankly, wanting to find some great opportunities for my team without them having to relocate, I’ve (hopefully) made something happen. I’m suitably proud of myself and so grateful to all the amazing people who’ve lent a hand.

I used to work at GDS, so I knew there were other central government teams based in the Midlands, some big local authorities, and a number of digital teams supporting the police, the NHS and other parts of the public sector. The frustration was that there was no network to find out who was where, what they were doing, and how we might be able to work together, without having to communicate via London or visit it!

So on September 27th, we are holding our launch event for Public Sector Digital Midlands (I fully admit that doesn’t really trip off the tongue!). I have begged and borrowed, called in favours and generally made a nuisance of myself, so we can put on this event for 250 people. It’s been done around my ‘day’ job and being a single mum of 7 year old twins, so it might be a little rough around the edges (I bought a multipack of lanyards off eBay!) but the response has been fantastic. It seems a lot of people have been wanting the same thing. Most of the 250 tickets have sold and some fantastic sponsors have come to our aid on the way. Andy Street, our Mayor, is coming to support us, as well as Kevin Cunnington from GDS, and Paul Maltby from the Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) . Most importantly (sorry lads!) so many people, from diverse teams, big and small, want to be part of this.

The aim of the event, is to kick off a ‘movement’ to bring the Midlands out of the shadows when it comes to Public Sector Digital.

We want to do three things :

• celebrate the fabulous work that’s already happening in the public sector in the Midlands
• work together to create an action plan on how we can better support each other and work in partnership across the region — no matter what part of the public sector digital people work in
• work together to find ways we can make the Midlands a destination for public sector digital teams, the suppliers who work with them, and the training providers who help skill up the workforce.

If we can achieve that, and then keep the momentum going, I will be so chuffed. If you’re based in the Midlands, or are wondering why the heck you aren’t yet, then there are about 15 tickets left at the time of writing this. Thanks for reading.