Most county councils in England are now using AI but say a lack of staff capacity, funding and training are holding them back from using it more widely, according to a new report.
The County Councils Network (CCN), a group within the Local Government Association, has highlighted the situation in its new County Spotlight report on technology and digital.
It includes the results of a survey of the 37 county and unitary authorities, carried out early this year, showing that 85% said they had been using AI and the remaining 15% were trialling or considering its adoption. Of those using it, 77% were doing so in administration, 70% in adult social care and 54% in children’s services and in road maintenance.
They identified benefits with 93% pointing to improved productivity and 77% to improved services.
But 93% said limits on staff capacity were restraining wider deployments and 71% that staff lacked the necessary training. In addition, 71% cited limits on funding as a barrier. The latter point reflects a long term shortage of funding from central government for relevant councils, the report says.
Respondents also cited ethical considerations (93%) and worries over the potential for disinformation (57%).
Government intent
The findings have been published weeks after the Government declared its intent to boost the use of AI in public services and to encourage economic growth. The report says the CNN will continue to highlight the barriers facing county councils.
Cllr Richard Roberts, economic growth spokesperson for the CNN, said: “It’s no exaggeration to say that AI offers the potential to revolutionise local services. As this report reveals, councils have been exploring AI across a range of intuitive proposals, including pothole preventing robots and in transcribing support calls.
“But our survey shows that despite the clear enthusiasm and ambition of county and unitary councils to explore and utilise AI even more, funding and staffing capacity issues run the risk of this progress running out of steam at a vital time and one when government wants all four corners of the country to be firing on all digital cylinders.
“If government wants to truly turbocharge AI usage across England, then it needs to maximise the potential in all four corners of the country. That means ensuring that county and unitary areas are fairly resourced in the fair funding review, enabling them to invest in technology as well as working with local government to address workforce capacity issues.”
The report provides a number of case studies on the use of AI and also outlines the growing importance of technology in social care and in the back office, and the need for local authorities to have strong capabilities in data analytics.
