Paul Bradbury, group business development director, Civica, said: “Today’s budget revealed that, while the deficit is decreasing and Britain may be ‘walking tall again’, the austerity years are not yet behind us. With £30bn of savings still to be made by 2017, there will be no respite from the pressures on local government and the welfare system. In particular local leaders will continue to wrestle with the fiscal reality of national spending decisions.
The budget revealed extended digital ambition and demand for significant savings through efficiency and reform, whilst keeping satisfaction standards high. We applaud the call for closer collaboration between Local Government, Government Digital Services and partners to deliver more customer-focussed, digitally-enabled and efficient local services. From our recent report, ‘The changing landscape for local government’, it is evident that new technology implementations are driving efficiency savings and 43% of council leaders and chief executives believe that using technology to encourage citizens to self-serve will be a key priority as their organisations adapt to a new model of working by 2025.
With new and continued commitment to initiatives including the NHS’s ‘Five Year Forward View’ and an in-depth efficiency inspection of every police force, there is no doubt that the way organisations operate will need to change if the overall message from the budget that we should see our country go from austerity to prosperity is to be realised.”