No organisation can modernise and become technology-enabled without transforming its skill set. To be cost-effective, we need a full, permanent and highly skilled digital, technology and data function who we can deploy to the huge number of transformation needs we have, turning the tide of years of outsourcing and patchy investment. 

More than this, we need to educate our staff to be confident with and welcoming of technology innovation, so they can better understand and serve residents and have a more fulfilling working life. 

Our intended outcomes for this workstream are that: 

• we are proud of our standing, in-house digital team 

• all our people feel confident in their knowledge and skills around the technology they need to do their jobs 

• our top tier leaders are educated in the impact of digital technology, and are ambassadors inside and outside the organisation for technology innovation 

• we can adapt quickly from project to project, using our standing teams to help the council prioritise and meet its needs 

• we have a mature approach to security, meaning we are able to protect our staff and residents from being exploited 

• the council becomes a destination for the digital, technology and data skills market, and is able to hire, retain and develop the best talent locally and nationally. 

To do this we will: 

• build a permanent rolling programme of digital apprenticeships, working with local higher educational institutions to build pipelines for young workers and graduates who are interested in digital, technology and data 

• create or bring in mandatory learning and development for all staff so that they fully understand how to use council technology, as well as understanding the basics of data privacy, cyber security, software development, service design and agile ways of working 

• develop digital leadership capability within the council, in line with the Local Digital Declaration, prioritising the corporate leadership team (the top three tiers of council officers) and council members 

• partner with business areas across the council to co-create service transformation plans enabled by technology - and then deliver on them 

• build a full digital, technology and data team in the council consisting mainly of permanent staff with a small number of contractors or partners to keep the latest knowledge and skills circulating around the council 

• to support this, redesign the existing digital and customer service teams, retaining much of our existing talent while allowing new hires to improve how we work. This will include new job descriptions and mapping our existing capability onto new needs 

• carry out a full review of our digital, data and technology pay in line with the SFIA framework, ensuring we are competitive in the industry 

• bring service design and product thinking to the council by hiring these skills in and developing our staff, including increasing awareness of user-centred design and agile software development 

• build career pathways for our digital, technology and data team, ensuring we can retain, develop and fulfill them 

• work continuously with other boroughs, government bodies and the civic sector to share learning, work together and improve.