The 2020 Public Services Trust Blog

The year is 2020.  Over the past decade, simple online technologies have transformed the way we access data and information, hold public services to account and engage with government.  Transparency is the watchword of the day.  The ultimate prize? Renewed political legitimacy and public services finally fit for purpose.  In the first of this series on the part technology and information have to play, I explore the potential for education. 

Susan is a mother of twins, living in London. Her children, James and Marsha, will be starting primary school next year. Each child has different learning and care requirements, with Marsha requiring extra support as she has special educational needs (SEN).

Online data to inform choice

Accessing the local authority webpage, Susan is directed to a GIS system and carries out a search for local primary schools based on her postcode. She personalises the search to showcase primaries with special needs facilities and tutorials. Susan is then able to access up-to-date information about every local school, including parent reviews on the facilities, teaching quality, ethos and atmosphere. Using an open database (with an accessible user interface linked to the local authority website), Susan can also compare data through a single comparative website – from Ofsted, the NHS, local authorities and other integrated service providers – to check for quality.  This would be the alpha version of Tim Berners-Lee’s data.gov.uk.  Digital Public has some other great examples – see pictured below.)

Power to verify personal data and information

Once Susan has applied online for her children’s primary school places, she is able to access the data held by the local authority about her and her children before it is transferred to their new schools. Using a Unique Identification Number and a password for each child, she will be able to make changes to data and information held on her children. For privacy purposes, only trained and security-cleared professionals will be able to crosscheck this information.  With Susan’s consent they may also refer to her family’s GP records (also accessible to Susan online and possibly via a third party – e.g. Microsoft’s HealthVault) if needed.

Cost-effective public services responsive to citizens’ needs

While none of the technology Susan is using is very new, Susan is now able to access a wealth of information that helps her to choose the best for her and her family.  In the wake of spending cuts after the 2009 recession, taxpayers could no longer afford to fund poor quality public services.  Armed with data and information, service users and professionals can assess whether they getting or delivering quality public services.  Susan can share this information with fellow parents online, talk to her peers, local leaders, MPs and officials via formal and informal feedback sites (similar to, for example, Kings Cross Local Environment or diabetessupport.co.uk.  She knows that her voice can make a difference.  Government and providers know they have to respond. 

Technology is integral, not an add-on

By now the internet is not a technology, but a way of being – it is part of the fabric of our lives; we communicate, socialise, create culture, buy/sell, read, watch, write online.  And it’s on our terms, at our convenience – any time of the day or night.  ‘Self-service’ online public services seemed like science fiction to some in the first decade of the millennium.  By 2020, the pace of technological change (and with it, the vast majority of public attitudes and behaviours) has forced governments and providers to catch up and open up.  Not only has this allowed for more accessible, personalised public services.  It is renewing a sense of active citizenship and political legitimacy – the decline of which was reaching crisis point only ten years earlier.