Editorial

Socitm sets out its 2017 priorities

Local gov’t IT organisation sees these as workforce diversity, transformation, health & social care integration and secure, open, shared systems

Posted 4 January 2017 by Gary Flood


Socitm, the association of IT and digital professionals working across local public services, has announced its policy and research priorities and programmes for the year ahead.

These are being defined as support for:

  • workforce diversity, including apprenticeships and women in IT
  • service re-design and digitally-enabled transformation
  • health and social care integration
  • secure, open, shared systems.

These will be directly reflected in four Socitm Insight research projects, the group adds, which it defines as:

Modern IT/digital leadership which will be a programme focusing on developing skills and capacity. “One of the themes to emerge strongly from research with Socitm members in 2016 is the imperative for the sector to grow its own skills for the future, especially in areas like cyber security and digital transformation leadership,” it notes. “Embracing diversity is likely to be a key part of this.”

Smart Places extending research and publishing in 2016 to include environment, education, skills and jobs, social and community aspects, resilience and wellbeing, digital local infrastructure and technology.

Information assurance and management which will be manifested in adding new material to the online Cyber Guide launched in 2016, covering cyber resilience, the security information ecosystem, cyber security support networks, and data analytics/business intelligence.

Infrastructure in terms of research on this will look at shared public services, dependency upon effective national broadband/connectivity, the establishment of a Health and Social Care Network (and its relationship to the PSN) and “progress towards secure, open, shared systems”.

The proposals are contained in a special Socitm membership document available can be accessed here, while links to all Socitm’s research and publications can be found here.