July Budget 2015: Local Government, The NHS And Digital

In the first all-Conservative Budget since 1996, Chancellor George Osborne has revealed that austerity will continue, with the public sector being amongst the worst casualties.  

However, the cuts to the public sector are not as severe as initially thought: public services are now set to be cut by just under £18bn a year, rather than the £24bn of cuts laid out in March's Budget. 

The Chancellor has also not used yesterday's announcement to further reduce in-year local government funding, a move welcomed by the Local Government Association (LGA). 

Despite this, the LGA is still concerned that local authorities will face challenging funding reductions in the coming years - up to £3.3bn in central government funding for local services in 2016/17 - and will have to make difficult decisions as a result. 

It's a problem that many believe can be solved by better using digital and technology to deliver public services in a more efficient and cost effective manner and councils must share this knowledge with each other.  

"The challenge of balancing cost savings against service delivery remains; however, greater efficiencies can be achieved if business processes and systems are shared more readily across local councils," claimed Vijay Chandiramani, COO at service technology company CapacityGrid.  

"Take the problem of managing fraud and error in Council Tax Reduction and Housing Benefit. Councils across the UK all follow similar processes, yet many design, procure and build their own bespoke systems at considerable cost," he added.  

On the other hand, there are those that feel that public sector budget cuts actually threaten the delivering of digital and IT projects.  

"As expected, the public sector will see significant cuts. What this means is that departments implementing new IT projects, as well as the £28bn worth of major ICT projects already underway, will be under pressure to do so a lot more efficiently," claimed Andy Soanes, CTO of IT services and consulting company Bell Integration.  

"National and local government IT projects across the board, from Whitehall to Whitby, will be feeling the impact of reduced budgets. In this environment, a poorly planned or implemented project could have even greater repercussions than usual," he added.  

More Focus On Healthcare Technology Needed  

As promised, the Budget revealed the government intends to plough £8bn a year into the NHS. This will be used to drive forward the NHS Five Year Forward View, of which a large portion focuses on how technology can be used to improve health and social care in the UK.  

However, while most seem to welcome the extra investment in the NHS, there are those who feel there needs to be an emphasis on using technology to improve patient care in a challenging financial environment.  

"As this sector still contends with funding and budget cuts, while having to drive greater efficiency, having the right technology can really help to streamline patient relationship management in a cost effective way," claimed David Moody, VP and global practice leader of government and public sector at Verint.                                 

"Having a centralised platform that can be accessed across the organisation along with a wider digital strategy will help create an environment of more cohesive and 'joined up' patient care," he added.  

"Next Generation Digital Economy"  

The Chancellor also announced that the government is set to invest over £20m in what it calls a 'Next Generation Digital Economy.' 

Six Next Gen Digital Economy Centres will be established across the UK, with the aim of supporting innovation and partnering with regional councils across the UK in order to support user-friendly public services that are fit for the digital age.  

While this demonstrates some understanding from government that public services must be brought into the 21st century, there are those who feel this Budget was lacking in digital focus.  

"A handful of initiatives were announced to drive digital transformation. Collaboration between business, government and academia will drive global opportunities for UK technologies, but there is still a lot to do to increase adoption of digital public services," claimed Paul Bradbury, group business development director at specialist systems provider Civica.  

"In our recent report, The Changing Landscape for Local Government, it was evident that the social and demographic landscape is changing at a pace that public services can't keep up with, particularly when it comes to delivering digital services.  

"There needs to be an increased focus on data-driven insights combined with a mindset that embraces change. In an information society, intelligent data collection can empower government organisations to build insight, inform planning and improve service delivery. More attention is needed here," he added.  

© 24N.biz