Representatives of four organisations with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) are working on the plan to develop a new digital centre of government, it has been revealed.
Emily Middleton, director general of Digital Centre Design in DSIT, said it is collaborating with the Central Digital and Data Office, the Government Digital Service and the Incubator for AI with the aim of producing “a new and refreshed digital vision for public services”.
This follows the announcement of plans for a new approach soon after the new Government came to power in July.
Writing in a blogpost, Middleton said the team has met with staff in the organisations through a series of workshops to look at what the Government should start doing and stop doing and what efforts need accelerating.
It has identified priorities including: removing blockers to innovation across the public sector; helping to build new digital commercial strategies, solutions and capabilities; developing a sustainable support of digital talent; transforming service delivery; unlocking the value of data; and leading a step change towards interoperable digital government.
Trade-offs and change
“We’ve also had some good conversations around the trade-offs, for instance between a wide mandate to collaborate beyond central government to help drive systemic change, with being able to be more focused and move faster with fewer partner organisations,” Middleton said.
She also highlighted the role of the expert group for digital government appointed in September, and said topics considered at its first meeting included data exchange, AI, trust, accountability, inclusion, the role of intermediaries in providing public services, and the balance between centralised and decentralised approaches.
The group is now organising a series of roundtables with other organisation and is planning to speak with people beyond central government.
