Newsletter July 2022

Life Events Service Design Project Show and Tell

We’re holding our first show and tell for our Life Events Service Design project on Thursday 14 July at 10am. The project aims to explore ways to improve the experiences of citizens who need council support during a specific life event – which is entering poverty. You can find more info in our blogpost on the end of the discovery and the start of the alpha. Use this link to sign up or catch up on our recordings of these sessions on our website afterwards.

Job Vacancies

We’re hiring! See our Agile Delivery Support Officer and User Experience Interaction Designer roles on the WLGA website. For a chat about the roles, please email digitalteam@wlga.gov.uk

Food Poverty User Research Session Recording

We held a show and tell session with Chris, one of our user researchers, talking through our research findings from interviewing citizens in poverty as part of our Food Poverty Data Project. We recorded the session, and you can catch up on it on our website.

Digital Leaders Session Catchup 

Missed our Digital Leaders Week talks from the end of June? You can watch them back at your own leisure on the Digital Leaders week site, with our sessions on Life Events Service Design in Local Government and the Content Design in Local Government.

Latest Blogs

We’ve recently published blogs on the importance of digital understanding to senior management positions, a series on the Principles of Persuasion, including liking, reciprocation and social proof, Merthyr Food Poverty Discovery, Food Poverty Show and Tell, Life Events Service Design Alpha, Local Government Digital Transformation Fund and the Merthyr Food Poverty Alpha.  

Local Government Digital Transformation Fund

This year the WLGA Digital Team will be managing the Local Government Digital Transformation Fund. The Fund exists to maximise and identify opportunities to progress the digital transformation of local government in Wales. This year’s round of funding is now open for applications and this blogpost gives you all the details on how to apply.

The application closing date is 15 August, when the submissions will be shared across Authorities to identify opportunities for sharing or involvement where there’s interest. Commissioning will happen on 30 August where the panel will review submissions and allocate funding.

If you’ve got any questions on the Fund, please email digitalteam@wlga.gov.uk.

Education MIS

We’re also embarking on a largescale discovery project looking at Education Management Information Systems. These systems are integral to school and pupil management and are used by all schools and local authorities across the country. This project will be managed by the Centre for Digital Public Services (CDPS), has the Local Government Chief Digital Office as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO), and will be supported by folks from across the local government world and Welsh Government.

Service Design Community of Practice

We’ll be taking a break over the summer from the Community of Practice, and our next session will be in the middle of September, to allow everyone to relax and come back refreshed and raring to go!

If you’re off on holiday over the next 6 weeks, have a fantastic time and thank you for attending our show and tells, our meet ups and taking being part of the work we do. We’ll be working away between now and September to bring you more events and updates for when you’re back in the office.