Hi, this is my first time blogging, I’ve seen the positivity it brought to my colleagues who have given it a go and so thought why not try it. I have been the head of Digital and Data Solutions at Luton Council for just over 12 months now. It has been a whirlwind of a year with so much change and projects delivered. What I wanted to talk about today was how fortunate I have been this year in forging relationships and learning from collaboration opportunities.
I have worked in Local Government for over 20 years, and I think this last year has been the first year that I have truly felt a sense of community and part of a bigger picture.
I have had the pleasure of visiting and meeting our neighbouring authorities, realising we are all working on the same things, sometimes different products or different ways of doing things, but the synergies are there and the outcomes the same. Were all on the same journey but at different stages so we can learn from each other about pitfalls and success.
I have joined several collaboration forums that have provided a huge amount of insight and help namely, the Local Government Application Managers Network which is a great source of knowledge and friendly contacts all ready to help with any question you might have. The insight from what other authorities have been through with system replacement projects has helped us strategically plan projects more realistically.
I also had the honour of being an LGA peer reviewer on a data 360 peer review for another local authority. This involved 2 days of interviews with various council officers and members. The aim was to provide well rounded constructive feedback on their strengths and weaknesses in their data strategy. However, I found the experience extremely reflective and couldn’t help thinking about our own processes and challenges. I think I came away having learnt more than I contributed.
I have also joined the XGov Digital Workplace Community. This community connects peers across all government department, agencies and organisations to share tools, templates and experiences. I really do feel there is a drive to bring local government into the wider public sector for collaboration. My main take away has been that even central government teams are working on the same stuff as us when it comes to technology and transformation. As someone who really doesn’t like wasteful practice it heartens me to see the progress being made on Standardisation, Blueprints and templates to share and reuse.
And finally, I need to mention my digital, data and technology colleagues. Weve had some big projects in the last few months that impact every member of staff at the council, I am proud of how the teams have come together, broken down barriers and gone the extra mile to achieve our deadlines. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the collaboration and teamwork.
It’s the time of year when people take a break and reflect. However, I am genuinely excited for the year ahead, bring on 2026!