Government called on to extend GDS remit to councils

If GDS worked with local councils it could save the taxpayer millions of pounds a year, says Phil Rumens, vice chair of LocalGov Digital

The government has been called on to authorise the Government Digital Service to work formally with councils.

Currently, GDS only has a remit to work with government departments in a bid to improve services, but Phil Rumens, vice chair of LocalGov Digital, a network for digital practitioners working in councils, believes that local government should be able to benefit from GDS's work.

"The GDS have achieved some amazing things and the funding announced in the recent Spending Review will allow them to do more of their great work, transforming government departments and services. Local government was not so fortunate," he said in a blog.

Chancellor George Osborne revealed that GDS would get a whopping £450m in funding despite the overall Cabinet Office budget being cut by 26 per cent. Since then, minister for the digital economy Ed Vaizey has called on the public and industry to share ideas about what he calls "the next stage in the UK's digital revolution".

Rumens has responded to Vaizey's calls for ideas, and suggested that the government should follow through on its Budget 2015 announcement that GDS would work formally with local government, examples of which he said are "few and far between".

"I'm proposing extending both GDS' expertise and platform to local government, allowing them to work with councils," he said.

"For example, allowing councils to use the payment platform GDS are developing would undoubtedly save the taxpayer millions of pounds a year whilst providing the public with a better service, and that's just one small element of GDS' work," he said.

Other ideas Rumen proposed included the sharing of data through registers, which he believes would reduce duplication between councils and between central and local government.

In addition, Rumen suggested that the government should create a new body to co-ordinate and improve local digital services. He said that this wouldn't take a great deal of resource - only requiring a few people to join things up.

He said the new body could allow for better knowledge transfer between councils, including standards for data and services, and a bigger role for local communities to help influence the creation of digital services.

"The outcome would be better, cheaper digital services. There is currently no network or organisation able to deliver this at scale, or it would already be happening," he said.

And Rumen believes that a new body could help GDS to work with local councils more effectively.

"GDS work in the open, and some councils already use the resources they have online such as the Government Service Design Manual, however extending GDS' remit to local public services would provide hands-on expertise in delivering world-class digital services locally. This could be co-ordinated by the new body, and so GDS doesn't have to visit all 400+ councils' regional network, or hubs might be created," he suggested.