Article
    by Bobby Chandan, Client Principal at Nortal

    It’s time to exploit the next generation of innovative public service solutions

    With rising demand, the cost-of-living crisis, and broader geopolitical instability, it’s clear we need to adopt new approaches to build trust in the government’s ability to use modern technology effectively.

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    The doom loop of rising costs and stagnant productivity

    Many of us feel that our local public services are facing significant challenges. At the more trivial end, my street isn’t swept as often, and I’m now paying for garden waste collection for the first time. However, a much more serious issue is the lack of coordination between health and social care services, which I experienced last year. This almost led to my dad being critically neglected, had I not been there to join the dots between different agencies.

    As we approach the Autumn Budget and 2025 Spending Review, the pressure on public services has never been greater.

    Local authorities are grappling with severe financial strain, driven by inflation, wage pressures, and increasing demand for services. The financial sustainability of many councils is at risk, with some already reliant on exceptional financial support from Central Government. The “Place-Based Public Service Budgets” report published by New Local earlier this year highlighted issues like fragmented funding, short-term crisis management, and a lack of coordination between services. These problems make it tough for local authorities to deliver effective, long-term solutions for their communities.

    Next generation government is already here

    Three months ago, I joined Nortal, a strategic innovation and technology company with a 20-year track-record of digitally transforming public services. Nortal started life in Estonia, a country that reimagined public services for its citizens after re-independence in 1991. Estonia posed the question: How can technology be best used for the benefit of citizens while driving economic growth? They were bold, prioritising some key enablers of democracy: investing in education, promoting citizen trust and providing transparency.

    Advocating for digital inclusion across generations and hard to reach communities encouraged strong citizen engagement and adoption. Today, 99% of Estonia’s government services are online. Nortal has been instrumental in creating 40% of those.

    The next phase of Estonia’s development is what Nortal calls personal government. This approach, which you can read about via the link, moves the focus towards public services becoming more proactive, personalised, and sustainable, so that life events trigger automatic support or early intervention tailored around individual need.

    I’ve been thinking about how some of these ideas might help address the challenges here in the UK, especially in response to impending budget and spending reviews ahead.

    Joining the dots with technology and data

    One major issue in the UK is the fragmented nature of funding, where different services are funded separately, leading to inefficiencies. Personal government employs an integrated approach, where services are designed around the needs of the citizen rather than the structures of government. By pooling resources and focusing on outcomes that matter to people, we can create a more cohesive and effective public service system. In the UK, regional and place-based budgets are ideal testing grounds for this concept, and the following three areas could provide a good place to start:

     

    1. Proactive provision instead of short-term crisis management. Many government commentators talk of a “doom-loop” of short-term crisis management that prevents long-term planning. Personal government anticipates and addresses these needs before they become crises. This shift from reactive to proactive service delivery helps break the cycle of short-term fixes to enable long-term solutions.
    2. Designing services around the citizen to address a lack of coordination. Personal government creates a seamless experience by putting the citizen at the centre of service design. This means using technology so that all relevant services are interconnected, and citizens have a single point of access for all their needs. This approach can hide and join up the complexity of Government’s delivery organisation for the user.
    3. Empowerment and trust outweigh top-down efficiency. One size fits all initiatives often fail to produce real savings or improvements. By harnessing the capacity of a community to support its citizens, and better understanding of leading indicators to rising demand, we can better involve citizens in the design and delivery of services, the resulting system is not only more efficient, but it is more trusted and valued by the people it serves. As a starting point, personal government empowers citizens and builds trust through transparency and control over personal data.

     

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    Are we ready for data driven innovation?

    The latest advances in AI highlight both the power and weakness of the underlying data it relies on. Once our data is properly prepared, we can harness algorithms and AI to enhance planning and decision-making, optimise service delivery, and improve public engagement.

    AI enables smarter planning by forecasting events and simulating decision impacts, ensuring that policies are effective and up to date. It automates routine tasks, manages service delivery more efficiently, and accurately predicts service demands. AI can also enhance public engagement by quickly analysing public sentiment or providing personalised responses, speeding up transactional enquiries while tailoring services to meet citizen and community needs.

    However, all these benefits depend on a solid foundation of data readiness. Data must be collected, cleansed, labelled, and integrated into a unified system. It must be secured to protect privacy and ensure compliance with regulations. Data must be handled ethically and without bias. In other words, data readiness builds trust both within an organisation and with external stakeholders.

    Practical steps at the local level

    For these innovative approaches to be successful, having the right data infrastructure and governance is crucial for ensuring that solutions are effective, non-biased, ethical, safe, compliant, and secure. These can be implemented at a regional or local level. Nortal have developed their thinking into the 5 steps below in collaboration with its previous clients:

    1. Invest in data infrastructure. Local authorities need to invest in their data infrastructure so it can handle large volumes of data from diverse sources. Modernise legacy systems and adopt cloud-based solutions for scalability and accessibility.
    2. Build advanced data analytics expertise. Utilising tools like generative AI significantly enhances data quality and provides deeper insights. These technologies automate data cleansing and labelling processes and ensure accuracy and timeliness of data used for decision-making.
    3. Foster a data-driven culture. Encourage all levels of the organisation to embrace data-driven decision-making. Training staff on data literacy and providing them with the tools and resources they need to analyse and interpret data.
    4. Apply data governance, compliance and ethics. As data becomes more integral to public services, safeguarding it against breaches and misuse is paramount. Implementing stringent data privacy policies and security measures will help build trust with citizens.
    5. Promote policies and protections that share data for public good. Governments can enhance data sharing while protecting privacy by adopting technologies like differential privacy, homomorphic encryption, and secure multi-party computation. These tools enable data analysis without revealing personal information.

     

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    Easier said than done

    While those five steps may seem straightforward, they can be challenging to implement. The process becomes smoother with the guidance of experienced professionals. At Nortal, we collaborate with visionary public sector leaders worldwide to simplify government processes, build trust, and enhance services for citizens.

    We’d love to show you how we’ve helped others and explore how we can support your vision. Feel free to reach out to us!

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