Public sector IT association Socitm has criticised the Government’s Spending Review, citing the lack of strategy or devolved funding to deal with the pressures on local government.
It has published a statement saying that it welcomes the £37.8m million allocated to councils over the next three years as part of the SR 21 review, but says there are “huge limitations and gaps” in the overall plans.
“The lack of investment in core technology infrastructure for the future, specifically digital identity and attribute exchange to embrace holistic place based service design and delivery and the role of local government, continues to hold back the modernisation of public services,” Soctim said.
“Similarly, the lack of investment in place based data science and analytics capability designed to achieve better targeting of resources locally to the vulnerable, to build resilience and sustainability, and to work toward net-zero is a significant omission.”
It also highlights that no new money has been allocated to social care following on from the £3.6 billion announced in September for care reform, and that the NHS is expected to get most of the money from the £938 million going to a unified technology fund.
Council tax struggle
This has prompted it to warn that social care will still be seriously short of resources even to deal with current pressures on staff recruitment, retention and skills, and that many councils could struggle to raise extra money from council tax.
“As a whole, Socitm concludes that this Spending Review does not go anywhere near far enough to resolve the policy impasse, resourcing and funding deficits needed to address the deep seated inequalities and environmental problems facing communities across the UK,” the statement concluded.
Image from iStock, Tero Vesalainen
