Weeknote 8.0
So. Farewell then
A term of office which started in summer 2016 is about to come to an end. It’s been a time of great upheaval, dominated by Brexit, which has prevented things from getting done. There have been some high-profile failures. The legacy is contested. And there are big questions as to what comes next.
Yes, this week it was announced that Kevin Cunnington, director of the Government Digital Service, would be moving to a new role heading a new body called the International Government Service. (See what I did there?)
Earlier this week we were pondering what Theresa May’s legacy for data, digital and technology in government would be (partly prompted by this piece, on her wider tech legacy, from Sky’s Rowland Manthorpe). It’s striking that in the speech announcing her resignation, the Prime Minister highlighted a couple of data-based initiatives: the race disparity audit (which Civil Service World have written about here, which we welcomed here, and which may make an appearance at a Data Bites in the not-too-distant future) and the publication of gender pay gap data. Others will point to the crime map and extension of FoI to cover the Police Federation as examples of May using data and transparency to achieve political goals.
But one would struggle to define the May premiership as open, rather than opaque. Political support for open government has gone backwards.
And the political drive behind digital government has also decelerated, from the high point of the Cameron government with Francis Maude in the Cabinet Office. There have been successes — public services continue to grow online, the civil service has been building its digital capability (and the digital data and technology function is one of the more mature across government), and the Government Digital Service, Office for National Statistics and departments have started to look to the future and the opportunities presented by emerging and future technology. But there have been flagship failures. Many — not least parliament’s science and technology select committee — are unclear about the role of GDS. And for all the useful retrospectives and recommendations in the Transformation and Technology Innovation Strategies, it’s not clear how these ideas turn into implementation, given the political uncertainty and bandwidth blockages brought by Brexit.
Will the new Prime Minister set out a clear vision for a more digital government? What will the new head of the Government Digital Service — and head of the data, digital and technology profession — bring to the role? And can either of them get anything done in an extended era of political uncertainty?
What do you think? Is our assessment fair? And should we be optimistic or pessimistic about the future?
Three things that happened this week
1. Marcus recapped some of the key announcements from London Tech Week in a comment for the IfG website. You can also check out last week’s weeknote for some of the other highlights.
2. Lewis was at the Connected Britain conference on Wednesday morning moderating a panel on ‘Delivering innovation in the public sector’, which featured William Priest (the as-of-today-outgoing Chief Exec of Geospatial Commission, who also spoke at our last Data Bites), Fiona Deans (COO of GDS), Tracy Green (Head of Digital Working at Defra), and Adam Micklethwaite (Director of Digital Social Inclusion at the Good Things Foundation). The discussion touched on the benefits of and barriers to innovation (especially with technology), the role of the private sector, impact on the workforce, and possible social issues (lots on digital exclusion — more on that below).
3. The IfG held an event for people who might be interested in a career in public policy, and with a view to improving our own diversity. You can watch the event back here — and we’re recruiting for interns for the autumn until next Wednesday 26 June, so apply now!
People we chatted to
- Gavin and Marcus met Andrew Pakes from the Prospect trade union. Workers can often get forgotten in the discussions about automation, future technology and the workforce — but it’s a perspective we’re very keen to include.
- Lewis had a few interesting conversations at and around Connected Britain. Partly on tech innovation in government — e.g. the difficulties of delivering anything more than pilot projects when you don’t have clarity on long-term funding (still not clear when SR will happen, and over what period…) — and partly on delivering infrastructure — lots of debate around whether or not the Government’s ambition to have nationwide full-fibre broadband by 2033 is feasible, seems heavily dependent on relationships between those doing the work and the landlords/local authorities whose cooperation they depend on…
What we’re reading and thinking about
- Gavin spent most of Wednesday at the first meeting of the ESRC’s ADR-UK (Administrative Data Research Partnership) project. ADR-UK will grant money to research projects, put together by departments and academics, that try to make the most of using and linking administrative data in government (the sort of data generated by people interacting with public services, for example). Timely, given the National Audit Office’s report on the challenges of using data in government, published today. Gavin’s looking forward to diving into it properly. Yvonne Gallagher summarized the key messages — not least that this report could have been written at any point in the last twenty years, given how often white papers (etc) repeat the same recommendations which never become reality — in our June Data Bites event. He’s also been thinking about the next Data Bites — put Wednesday 3 July in your diaries now! Invitations will go out shortly, but it’s another interesting line-up.
- Marcus has been thinking about what a task-based model that describes the civil service workforce would look like. Drawing on things such as Frey and Osborne’s 2013 paper on the future of employment, and this 2017 report from McKinsey, he’s worked back to the O*NET database and has been spending time making sense of all that. The challenge here is that the civil service doesn’t exactly resemble the wider workforce, but equally it’s a far larger organisation with people doing a wider range of things than in any private sector firm. As we move forwards it is likely that our thinking about technological change will be shaped by the arguments made by Arntz, Gregory and Zierahn in their 2016 OECD paper. Other things Marcus appreciated this week included this stunning visualisation that maps out the various guidelines and principles for AI and human rights put forwards by various bodies. He’ll also be keeping a close eye on the newly-announced citizen’s assembly on climate change; it’ll be interesting to see whether the model can work here.
- Lewis has been thinking more about digital in/exclusion in the context of government technology use. This has popped up in the news a few times recently, especially around Universal Credit. But Adam Micklethwaite made a strong case at Connected Britain for it being a critical issue that needs to be addressed, rather than simply something to be aware of. He explained that one in 10 British people haven’t even used the Internet before(!), that the digitally excluded tend overwhelmingly to be those who are already socially excluded, and that the main reason for the low uptake of digital technologies is because people don’t see the point. This is a knotty problem we will definitely be returning to…
What’s coming up next week?
- Various meetings — we’ll tell you more once they’ve happened!
- We’re holding an internal session about submitting evidence to the Committee for Standards in Public Life’s inquiry into what AI means for the Nolan Principles. Gavin will also be thinking about submitting evidence to the National Data Strategy consultation. Are you thinking of submitting evidence to these inquiries, or do you have any views on what we should be putting in?
- The Science and Technology and DCMS Committees are continuing their inquiries into ‘commercial and recreational drone use’ and ‘immersive and addictive technologies’ respectively, with evidence sessions on Wednesday.
Any last thoughts?
- As ever, let us know if you have any thoughts or feedback. Email (digital@instituteforgovernment.org.uk) or Twitter or commenting on this or whatever works best for you — it all works for us.
