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Local authority IT managers have warned the Government that delivering Total Place will only be possible with a renewed focus on locally-delivered services. After a pledge by prime minister Gordon Brown to make Britain ‘the world leader in public service delivery', local government IT managers said they were in prime position to make it a reality. SOCITM, which represents the sector, warned that at the local level, many services can reform, collaborate and innovate to deliver the step change in value and cost to both citizens and businesses. The prime minister had warned that in the public sector spending purge, there would be transfers and shifts in existing spending, as well as cancellation of current projects. Mr Brown set out the digital future of public services. He said: ‘In both the content and delivery of public services, the next stage of the web will transform the ability of citizens to tailor the services they need to their requirements, to feedback constantly on their success, to interact with the professionals who deliver them, and to put the citizen not the public servant in control.' But SOCITM said evidence from the Total Place pilots confirmed that public services delivered more, better and for less when services were led, managed and resourced locally, with citizens and frontline staff having a major say. SOCITM policy head, Martin Ferguson, said: ‘The concept of the "Mygov" personalised portal, coupled with the end of the era of the "one-size-fits-all, man-from-the-ministry-knows-best approach", will resonate with all those involved in local public services delivery who have struggled with implementing Whitehall-imposed directives.' l A SOCITM policy briefing can be downloaded from http://www.socitm.net/downloads

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WHITEHALL

Total Place must focus on local delivery, say IT chief

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