Communities theme

People who have digital confidence and skills have greater resilience and opportunities than those who don’t. Giving communities the ability to access services digitally increases engagement in the democratic process and self-service which allows the authority to direct its limited resources to the most needed areas.

What do we mean by Communities?

Our communities encompass all the residents of Cambridgeshire as well as those who come into the county for business or pleasure who use, access or support our services.

Why does this matter?

Having digitally engaged communities allows us to work collaboratively with partners and citizens leading to successful long-term initiatives. It promotes inclusion and builds strong and invested societies.

The growth in online services gives us the opportunity to increase engagement and trust; it allows citizens to feel part of the decision-making process and therefore makes it more likely they will embrace council and partner delivered services. A two way process allows the Council to respond to resident feedback and use that data to drive improvements

Targeted in the right way, we can reach those groups who are currently underrepresented; something as simple as making online meetings available to citizens can open a whole new audience who would not previously have been able to engage in public meetings.

Communities Vision

Our vision is to enable as many services as possible to digitally engage directly with its service users. This automated digital engagement should follow through into the teams and systems used within the organisation.

A key focus should be that this engagement drives more automated resolution where appropriate but also directs the most vulnerable quickly to the best face to face support.

To support and implement, where appropriate, the infrastructure required to deliver the innovative use of Internet of Things (IoT) and other services effecting positive outcomes for the community, such as improved access to public Wi-Fi and better air quality.

Partners’ theme

Digital partnership working is fundamental to the successful delivery of place-based services. This is evidenced in system wide initiatives such as the shared health care record (My Care Record), population health management and early help.

What do we mean by Partners?

There are a diverse range of third-party organisations and services that partner with the Council. These can be broadly categorised as:

Those consuming a service or services the Council provides e.g., 3CICT
Providing a service or services to the Council e.g., Pathfinder Legal Services, Milestone
Providing a service or services for the council e.g., Children’s Centres
Organisations that collaborate with the Council to deliver a service or services together e.g., EastNet, MASH, ICS or the NHS.

Why does this matter?

The Council cannot work in isolation and many of its functions are provided in partnership with other organisations. The key to successful partnership working is the provision and sharing of quality, accurate and secure data; this is fundamental to all our digital interactions with partners.

Partners Vision:

Where the requirement for a digital public service can’t be efficiently fulfilled using internal resources, or a common outcome is identified across partners we will engage in partnerships with external providers to satisfy the wide-ranging requirements of local public sector. In line with Council objectives, we will support partners to fully utilise digital and technology options and shape and guide the standards/specifications used to provide services.

We will facilitate digital working across the board, with digital communication and collaboration as standard and work together to ensure that any service provided or consumed meets or exceeds expectations.

We will work with other councils and service provider organisations to ensure that data is shared safely and appropriately to enable us to solve problems for our citizens and make our services as effective as possible.

Inclusion theme

What do we mean by Inclusion?

The term ‘inclusion’ is often used with or instead of ‘accessibility’. However, they have quite distinct meanings:

Accessibility – equivalent experiences for both disabled and able-bodied users.

Inclusion – experiences that are available to and usable by as wide an audience as possible

Digital inclusion can generally be thought of as consisting of three elements:

Skills – The ability to use devices and applications to access resources
Connection – Having a means of connecting to online services including access to a device
Accessibility - Services designed to be available to everyone who might need to access them.

For much of society, using the Internet to access services is second nature but this is not the case for everyone. Headlines from national studies such as the Motivational barriers of non-users of the internet - Good Things Foundation report that:

88M adults think the internet is ‘not for them’
62M adults lack the necessary support
41M adults find the internet too complicated
923K adults find the internet too expensive

Why does this matter?

It is vitally important for everyone to be able to access services they need, from banking to social care. A society in which people’s digital needs are met helps bring about happy, prosperous, and healthy communities. An ever-increasing number of services are being delivered in a digital format. This is not only true for councils but more widely in society too. The Covid-19 pandemic greatly accelerated this transition; enforced isolation of service users meant that providers were challenged with continuing to deliver as before. This situation has bought about greater inclusion for some and conversely, increased isolation for others, highlighting the need for people to have both access to devices and the connectivity required to get online.

For those with online access and digital skills who might be housebound or unable to travel, having more services available online has resulted in an increase in available services and consequently, in their inclusion. With services and meetings moving from ‘in person’ to digital, they have been able to participate where previously they couldn’t.

Predominately though, this move has meant a significant decrease in access to services. A huge section of the population doesn’t have access to a device or the necessary connectivity to get online; as a result, they have become more isolated and, in some cases, had services effectively removed.

Access to good-quality, current information can overcome many of the challenges of everyday life and running a business. Once the issue of connectivity has been addressed, information (often in real-time) that would benefit citizens and businesses is critical. This information must be accessible to all, regardless of age, ability or the device being used.

Inclusion Vision

The ultimate vision is that no one encounters any barriers which prevent them from successfully accessing and using digital services.

Making technology and digital solutions accessible and usable for all. This vision strives to promote diversity, equity, and inclusiveness in the design, development, and implementation of IT and digital solutions, ensuring that everyone can access, participate in and benefit from the digital world. This will require the Council to look not just at current barriers and how to tackle them but also actively look for further opportunities to be more inclusive.

Sustainability theme

What do we mean by Sustainability?

Sustainability is the ability of something to continue functioning without it depleting or damaging the resources necessary for its existence or function. How do we transition to net zero whilst improving social outcomes. The two most common references to sustainability are environmental and economic:

Environmental

The council has a detailed Climate Change and Environment Strategy The ways in which digital supports that strategy and the ambition of the council to transition to net zero carbon target can be found in the Action Plan. See the Supporting documents section.

Economic

Economic sustainability is driven by the practices we put in place to ensure the success of our activities while also managing their environmental, social and cultural impact. Being economically sustainable is about ensuring that the cost of us providing the services we do isn’t worth more than the benefit they currently provide or will do in the future. It is also influenced by accurate analysis of data available to us to ensure that resources are used effectively delivering efficiencies and savings to communities and our budget.

Why does this matter?

The current economic climate is having an impact of the ability of authorities across the county to keep pace with resident’s needs. Cambridgeshire is no exception. Higher economic growth leads to higher tax revenues, and this enables local governments to spend more on public services, such as social care and education. This can result in higher living standards, increased life expectancy, higher rates of literacy and a greater understanding of civic and political issues.

Money can be spent on protecting the environment. With higher economic growth a society can devote more resources to promoting recycling and the use of renewable resources.

Economic growth can be generated if an area is seen as an attractive place to base a business and to live. Problems such as traffic congestion, inadequate parking, poor internet connectivity and an unhealthy environment can be overcome or reduced using digital technologies. Tackling these issues can have a positive effect on sustainability and contribute to a reduced carbon impact.

Addressing the sustainability of IT & Digital services is critical to achieving our Net Zero Carbon goal by reducing the quantity of resources we consume such as energy and water, and by using IT to create more environmentally friendly alternatives for how we live and work.

Sustainability Vision

Through the implementation and use of IT & Digital services, make the County an attractive place to base a business and/or to live, whilst delivering net zero by 2045 and enabling our communities to adapt and thrive
Ensure that all aspects of council delivered/sponsored IT & Digital services are designed, manufactured, managed, used and disposed of in a way that minimises carbon emissions and maximises environmental benefit.

Workforce theme

What do we mean by workforce?

Workforce can be defined as any person providing a service for the authority. Those persons may be elected members, directly employed by the council or be contracted to us.

Why it matters

Skills - IT and Digital systems can only go so far in the provision of services, those systems are reliant on people feeding them information, maintaining them, checking the quality of what is being put in and their output. Having a workforce that has the confidence, empowerment, capability, and toolset creates not only a more effective resource but also gives them greater sense of wellbeing.

Digital solutions can, if delivered correctly, enable the simpler, and smarter delivery of services. This relies largely on those using them having the skillset to manage the data and processes on which the outcomes depend.

Leadership in this area should be by example, with our Corporate Leadership Team adopting the stance that their own digital skills should at least mirror what they expect of their workforce.

Usability - The Covid pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital services and we shouldn’t waste that momentum. We should ensure that user experience is the same for all staff, be they internal or external to the organisation, working from an office or remotely.

We recognise that there are services that don’t fit into the ‘standard’ mould, for example, Public Health who need specialised sets of software to effectively carry out their role. We will ensure that this is achieved in a secure, sustainable, and accessible way utilising cloud services to minimise the impact to the end user device.

Workforce Vision

The ability of the Council to provide effective services relies on its workforce being able to access and use systems effectively and efficiently whether this is delivered face to face, mediated route or entirely digitally.

Our vision is for all staff and elected members to be supplied with the appropriate equipment, software and digital skillset for their job role to efficiently and effectively deal with service needs and feel empowered and confident in their use of IT.

How staff and elected members work and are trained will be centred around digital technologies. We will encourage, promote and support digital ways of working for all. Development for staff and elected members in relation to improving and broadening technical expertise within the authority will be made available.

We put digital technologies at the heart of the way we work and train our workforce in how to use them. We have a culture that values, incentivises, and expects digital ways of working from every member of our workforce. We actively develop our workforce’s expertise within the digital, data, technology and cyber professions and have talent pipelines to benefit retention and relieve pressure on recruitment.