Lead DIGIT Lab Academics: Professor Mark Thompson and Alfie Porteous (Intern)

Research Question: The research aims to explore how digital platforms can be used more effectively in public services to drive efficiency and increase cost savings. Having achieved 100% takeup in NHS Trusts and saved over £1billion, NHS Jobs is a case study of a uniquely successful implementation of common digital platforms in government and serves as the pilot programme for this initiative.

Policy Report: The report first details the NHS Jobs case study, before drawing out those features of the NHS Jobs service model responsible for its unusual success. The report then distils these features into a generic ‘servitised platform’ delivery model for common platforms in government, and develops a checklist for identifying opportunities for additional applications of servitised platforms across public services.

Outcomes:

• Participation in Digital Leaders Innovation Week and gave a talk titled: How Much Better, How Much Less? 2010-2022 A Retrospective on UK Government Digital. The recording can be found here
• Talk for Times Higher Education Digital Universities Conference, April 2024, titled ‘Call that Digital Transformation?’, podcast available here
• Interview for UK Govt Cabinet Office CDDO talk series on tackling legacy in government, 7 December 2023
• Panel discussion with UKCTO and UK CDO on tackling legacy in government, 8 May 2024
• Talk on servitised platforms for Local Government Digital event, 2 April 2024
• Computer Weekly article ‘A local government GDS might work – but only on top of standard technology’, 28 March 2024
• Medium Blog: ‘A tight-loose collective operating model for local government’
• Medium Blog: ‘Even more thoughts on a local government digital service’
• Planned launch event at Institute for Government, autumn 2024
• 2-minute video summarising potential for servitised platforms in UK public sector.