How data can help councils provide more personalised, effective and efficient services.

Key findings

• After years of hype, councils are now using big and small data in a range of innovative ways to improve decision making and inform public service transformation.
• Emerging trends in the use of data include predictive algorithms, mass data integration across the public sector, open data and smart cities.
• We identify seven ways in which councils can get more value from the data they hold.

What does the data revolution mean for councils and local public services? Local government collects huge amounts of data, about everything from waste collection to procurement processes to care services for some of the most vulnerable people in society. By using council data better, is there potential to make these services more personalised, more effective and more efficient?

Nesta’s Local Datavores research programme aims to answer this question. Where, how and to what extent can better data use can help councils to achieve their strategic objectives? This report is the first in a series, aimed primarily at helping local public sector staff, from senior commissioners through to frontline professionals, get more value from the data they hold.

Author

Tom Symons