Agenda item

The Chairman invited Cllr Neil Prior and Juliet Whitworth to introduce the report.

Neil said that he was very supportive of predictive analytics as a means of improving service delivery and that this report represented an opportunity for the LGA to set the agenda, and to address the legitimate questions around risk and ethics, before the technology was adopted more widely.

Juliet said that the LGA had commissioned Shared Intelligence to produce a guide for councils for using predictive analytics which would be launched on 10 November and would be shared with Board members. An advisory group had also been set up with external organisations with an interest in the subject and they had welcomed the LGA’s involvement.

Juliet also said that members needed to be aware of the potential negative implications for local government if predictive analytics was not used well, and cited recent instances of central Government use around planning reforms and exam results.

Juliet asked for members’ comments on the proposed workstream outlined in paragraph 7 and whether it should be taken forward for the remainder of 2020-21 and in the longer term.

Members were supportive of the proposed workstream and welcomed it as a means of improving outcomes and services, and targeting cost-effective solutions. It was pointed out that councils held large amounts of data that were largely untapped at present and some of the service areas that could potentially benefit were discussed. Members felt that part of the LGA’s work should be to share learning between authorities, help them use predictive analytics correctly (including ideas about how it might be used) and to ensure it is applied in an ethical manner.

Decision:

Members of the Improvement & Innovation Board supported the predictive analytics workstream and agreed the next steps outlined in paragraph 10 of the report.