AI Opportunities Action Plan: LGA response

The Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan includes 50 recommendations. The LGA is committed to collaborating with the government to implement these recommendations.

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Overview

  • The LGA welcomes the publication of the AI Opportunities Action Plan and its ambitious vision for the UK to become a world leader in the development and adoption of AI (artificial intelligence).
  • Local Government is a substantial part of the public sector, employing 1.32 million people and delivering vital services at a local level to residents with an annual budget of £127.1 billion. However, councils are facing significant financial and service demand pressures. Digital transformation, including the use of AI, is seen as a way to deliver the next generation of public services, which are cost efficient and enable front line workers to focus precious capacity on service delivery.
  • Therefore, councils are excited about the benefits of AI if the risks can be effectively managed. In a ‘State of the Sector’ survey on AI last year with recent updates, 91 per cent of responding councils reported they are either already using AI or exploring its potential. Councils are utilising AI for various applications and in a range of service areas, including public-facing chatbots, caseworker assistants, image recognition for tasks like tackling fly-tipping, AI-powered sensors in adult social care, fixing potholes and tools for generating easy to read documents or translation services. You can read more on our local government AI use case bank on our website. 
  • However, Local Government needs support and to be valued as a key partner to innovate further and be part of shaping the AI future. We are particularly encouraged by the plan's emphasis on investing in the foundations of AI, pushing for cross-economy adoption, and positioning the UK as an AI maker, not just an AI taker. We believe a funded Local Government Centre for Digital Technology, as called for in the Local Government White Paper, should enable and deliver this plan, ensuring that Local Government makes the best use of technology, in order to digitise public service delivery, enhance productivity and improve outcomes.
  • The success of a public sector wide approach includes ensuring local government has a seat at the table. Local government stands ready to support this vision and contribute to national prosperity by harnessing the transformative potential of AI to improve public services, drive economic growth in local communities, and enhance the lives of residents across the country. 
  • Trust by communities in the use of AI will be key to ensuring the UK can unlock its potential. Residents across the country should play a role in shaping the AI revolution as envisaged in the plan, and local government, as leaders of place and community, could be instrumental in facilitating leading community conversations on the use of AI.   
  • The LGA believes that local government has a crucial role to play in each of the areas outlined in the Action Plan, and we look forward to working with the government to deliver on the recommendations set out in this action plan.
  • As part of the Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, some 50 recommendations were made. Please note that the below only provides LGA views on recommendations related to local government and does not form a complete list. The full list of recommendations can be found online.

Pillar one: Lay the foundations to enable AI

Building sufficient, secure and sustainable AI Infrastructure  

LGA view:

  • Local Government supports the UK Government's digital connectivity ambitions to drive economic growth, stimulate local economies, and ensure all regions benefit from next-generation digital infrastructure.In line with the Government’s digital transformation ambitions from analogue to digital public service delivery, particularly in the NHS over the next ten years, and the objectives of this Opportunities Action Plan, connectivity and sustainable AI infrastructure are essential.  AI infrastructure must be considered in an integrated way with other forms of digital infrastructure plans and connectivity ambitions that the Government has.
  • Local authorities are essential partners in achieving national digital connectivity goals. They need to be empowered, resourced and supported to overcome challenges and drive progress, which includes funding for extra capacity and skills development, as well as more constructive mechanisms for convening national Government and bodies such as Ofcom, regional networks/bodies (through combined authorities where they exist or other channels), local authorities at all levels, and industry so national ambitions can also be responsive to local needs. 
  • Local leadership is key for councils to act as enablers for connectivity and digital infrastructure objectives by integrating it into growth plans and improving coordination across stakeholders.
  • Collaboration is key. Stronger partnerships between central government, combined authorities, local authorities, and the private sector are needed to ensure efficient and equitable infrastructure rollout. Meaningful community engagement must be prioritised, which includes political engagement with councillors as community leaders – particularly regarding infrastructure projects to ensure that local decision making is not undermined, and the benefits of infrastructure projects are understood. 
  • Sustainability should be considered holistically with consideration given to water usage as well as power and land availability when identifying sites for data centres. 

LGA view on relevant recommendations: 
 

Set out, within 6 months, a long-term plan for the UK’s AI infrastructure needs, backed by a 10-year investment commitment.  

  • The six-month plan should be considered within the broader context of connectivity ambitions (full fibre broadband and 5G) and infrastructure challenges that currently exist as the UK Government drives forward with targets by 2030 that will meet the needs of an inclusive, future proofed economy.  
     

Establish ‘AI Growth Zones’ (AIGZs) to facilitate the accelerated build out of AI data centres. 

  • AI innovation zones must be considered within current connectivity initiatives – such as 5G Innovation Regions as proposed in the National Wireless Infrastructure Strategy.  

  • Local Government has a critical part to play in driving forward connectivity and AI infrastructure ambitions, ensuring that they’re responsive to local needs. However, a reset is required between national and local government to ensure that local priorities are integrated appropriately into national ambitions, and local barriers where they exist are understood by national government and support is provided where required.  

  • The LGA supported the changes which have been made to paragraph 86 and 87 of the National Planning Policy Framework to give greater weight to planning applications which support key drivers of economic growth (“modern economy”) including gigafactories and data centres. We recommend the government continues to work closely with local government to shape the way in which national planning policy, and the wider planning system itself, is presented and accessed. This work should be shared widely with the sector, and the LGA would be happy to facilitate engagement. 

  • Incorporating a strong regional aspect to infrastructure rollout is key to ensuring that innovative growth is inclusive and equitable across the UK, and that market engagement/shaping can be done at the appropriate level with private sector infrastructure companies to address the power imbalance that often exists between commercial interest and local need.  

  • In response to the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) Consenting Regime, the LGA believes that is should be used only in cases of genuine nationally important infrastructure projects. The bar should be set high for this threshold as local authorities cannot scrutinise applications under the NSIP regime to the same extent as planning applications, nor can they engage their communities as effectively.  

  • If the Government must take into account the findings and recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission which found that since 2012 consenting times have increased by 65 per cent, moving from 2.6 to 4.2 years, and the rate of judicial review has spiked in recent years to 58 per cent from a long term average of ten per cent. It would be of no economic benefit if consent for the development of new industry infrastructure was held up by a slow and creaking national consenting regime. In the LGA’s experience with other connectivity infrastructure projects, we recognise that the NSIP Consenting Regime can be counter productive to ‘streamlining’ processes.  

  • The capacity and capabilities of local planning officers must also be supported to drive forward AI infrastructure development, with skills development prioritised. 

Mitigate the sustainability and security risks of AI infrastructure, while positioning the UK to take advantage of opportunities to provide solutions. 

LGA view:

Unlocking data assets in the public and private sector 

LGA view:

  • Councils are often described as ‘data rich and insight poor’ organisations holding data on every resident in the UK in the delivery of vital public services but often data is stuck behind legacy systems that aren’t interoperable with other council systems and/or not easy to access; or the foundations are not strong enough for sharing. 
  • The LGA welcomes the Government’s proposed strategic initiatives for making public sector data use work better across the public sector and economy. As data rich environments, local government must play a key role in these discussions, and public trust must be paramount throughout. 
  • Data availability, quality, and storage (68 per cent) was highlighted as the second biggest barrier to AI deployment in the LGA’s State of the Sector survey on AI in early 2024. However, local government needs support in addressing data foundations. 

LGA view on relevant recommendations: 

Rapidly identify at least 5 high-impact public datasets it will seek to make available to AI researchers and innovators.

  • Given how data rich local government is, Local Government will form an integral part of any data sharing initiative and must be part of the discussions from the outset at the national/strategic level in order to inform the value of data and the parameters for sharing. It’s vital that local government consent is sought, and public trust is prioritised. 

  • Public trust in the ethical use of personal data is low. The 2024 Public Attitudes to Data and AI tracker survey revealed that only 34 per cent of respondents felt they had control over their personal data and its usage. Furthermore, only 40 per cent believed organisations were held accountable for data misuse. Notably, government entities were among the least trusted when it came to managing personal data, garnering a trust score of just 38 per cent, significantly lower than the NHS which scored 85 per cent in relation to public trust.
  • Local government is the front line of government service delivery for communities and therefore will bear the brunt and burden of the negative impacts caused by any loss of trust.
  • Local government is beginning to consider data ethics in the digital transformation of services to address this distrust. An example of which is Camden Council’s ‘charter’, which enshrines the citizen’s right to define what ethical data processes look like. However, these require staff time, expertise and resources to develop and implement.

Develop and publish guidelines and best practices for releasing open government datasets which can be used for AI, including on the development of effective data structures and data dissemination methods.

  • Data standards are key to this – with work ongoing by the LGA, iStand UK with the Central Data and Digital Office (CDDO) improve how data is collected, structured and stored across local and central government. 

Build public sector data collection infrastructure and finance the creation of new high-value datasets that meet public sector, academia and startup needs.

  • The effective and ethical application of AI is highly dependent on the integrity and accuracy of the data inputted. Local government handles an enormous amount of citizen data related to children’s services, social care, democracy (particularly with regard to election process security), housing, and welfare. However, the sector faces multiple challenges around ensuring data foundations are strong enough for  councils to be able to participate fully in national AI ambitions, and support will be needed to address this.   

  • Maintaining the highest standard of data protection is vital in sustaining public trust, and data protection officers and information governance leads within councils are crucial in ensuring the lawful and fair processing of data.
  • Given the breadth of services that councils provide to every citizen in the UK, councils hold a wealth of data on each resident. However, it is challenging for councils to ensure that systems and data are interoperable due to barriers by legacy suppliers and/or the high costs of APIs which significantly hinder digital transformation.  
  • Due to the challenges that councils face in accessing their data in legacy systems, and incentivising suppliers to utilise data standards, in line with the National Audit Office ‘Use of AI Across Government’ findings, we agree that updating legacy systems and improving data quality and access is fundamental to exploiting AI opportunities. We know from our engagement with councils that the need to improve data quality remains a key challenge in ensuring AI readiness across the sector. Remediation plans should be drawn up across the public sector of which support is available to local government. 
  • The LGA welcomes the proposal to develop AI tooling to clean up data sets across the public sector. Standards is key to this as above. Due to the paramount importance of retaining trust and the highest levels of data protection, a public sector specific tool could be designed by capabilities that already exist – such as the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI). The LGA is engaging with the i.AI to ensure local government needs and priorities are shaping tooling developed, and councils are participating in piloting. 

Training, attracting and retaining the next generation of AI scientists and founders 

LGA view:

  • The LGA welcomes the focus of the Plan on skills. Building the capacity of digital and IT teams as well as strengthening the capabilities of existing staff across the workforce, from the frontlines to leadership, is as important as training the next generation of scientists and founders.
  • There are significant skills gaps that exist in local government currently within IT teams and the digital capabilities of leadership teams:
  • IT and technology workforce capacity: Councils are experiencing challenges with capacity in digital technology in IT staff and highly technical staff. Both recruiting and retaining IT and technical staff is challenging due to private sector pay competition. Approximately 18 per cent of IT posts in councils across England were vacant as of 1 October 2023, and around a third of all responding councils said the vacancy they had found most difficult to fill in the last three years was for a technical /operational /architectural officer. On average, local authority IT teams had a turnover of approximately 9.8 per cent with 70 per cent of respondents saying that the main reason employees were leaving was more pay, while 51 per cent cited better career opportunities and 42 per cent due to retirement. Similarly, across the public sector, councils find challenges with the lack of career opportunities, pathways and appropriate pay structures for technical staff in comparison with managerial staff in local government. This can hamper attracting talent and retaining staff.   
  • Digital capabilities across the workforce: Councils also feel challenges across their workforce on digital skills. According to research from Lloyds Bank, 52 per cent of the workforce are unable to do all basic digital tasks, and 6 per cent of staff are not able to do any basic digital task. Based on a work a workforce of 1.4million, this means that 728,000 don’t have all the essential basic tasks and 84,000 have none. The Local Government Capacity Survey (2024) found that a quarter of councils (24 per cent) had a successional training programme in place for their ICT staff. 
  • Digital leadership: The most recently published Local Government Workforce Survey (2022), found that almost half of councils (48 per cent) reported gaps in the skills of its managers or management teams in relation to supporting digitalisation/use of technology. This was seen as a skills gap that the council would be addressing as a matter of priority (i.e. within the next 12 months) among 15 per cent of councils. In a recent National Audit Office report on digital transformation, it was found that there was a lack of experience and understanding of digital transformation of senior managers tasked with overseeing digital change, and there was a lack of skills and leadership in the civil service which constrained digital change. It is a similar picture of local government. There are many excellent digital leaders and specialists, but wider management teams often lack experience and understanding of digital issues with traditional leadership styles no longer sufficient to meet the demands of an AI driven digital workforce. Resistance by councillors can also be a barrier to digital transformation as was found in 26 per cent of councils. These challenges are not exclusive to AI, but are also found across issues of cyber security.  

LGA view on relevant recommendations: 
 

Accurately assess the size of the skills gap. 

  • It is crucial that investment is made to equip public sector workforces with the necessary skills and knowledge to manage and utilise AI effectively, including being able to evaluate the ethical and privacy considerations for its use, and to effectively implement and challenge the AI. The ‘workforce crisis’ that local government is experiencing can and should be tackled by targeted reform and support. This could include online courses, workshops, or dedicated AI certifications for staff. The training available to civil servants should be made available to all public sector workers, including council staff. There needs to be long-term workforce planning and investment in digital and technology practitioners within the public sector. This could save considerable sums of money spent on consultants each year. 

Enabling safe and trusted AI development and adoption through regulation, safety and assurance 

LGA view:

  • The focus should not be solely on the most advanced AI models that is the focus of the AI Safety Institute. Rather safety and trust should be paramount across the models that the public sector and citizens are engaging with currently to foster public trust.
  • Building public trust: Trust is earned over time through trustworthy, open practices which include transparent uses of AI and meaningful public engagement to understand public concerns and in co-designing solutions. As frontline public service providers, councils play a crucial role in fostering public trust in AI. 
  • Trust by communities in the use of AI will be key to ensuring the UK can unlock its potential. Residents across the country should play a role in shaping the AI revolution as envisaged by Clifford, and this should be complementary rather than oppositional to transformative progress. 
  • Councils are currently grappling with how and when to engage residents, and councillors particularly as community leaders are facing challenges in addressing the concerns of the public. Local government is uniquely positioned to facilitate meaningful public engagement, with councillors serving as integral members of their communities and local democracy providing a platform for amplifying resident voices. To this end, robust public engagement strategies are essential. Recognising this importance, many local authorities are already pioneering citizen engagement initiatives in AI. For example, Camden Council has developed a data charter, while Manchester City Council has established an AI People's Panel. These initiatives aim to enhance citizen understanding of AI and inform the council's responsible use of this technology. Public engagement can be resource-intensive, but it is crucial for building and maintaining public trust. More must be done to support this vital work, and innovative approaches by councils should be elevated, promoted, and learned from. Additionally, more support should be provided to equip councils with the necessary resources to effectively engage with residents on AI.
  • The current approach to AI regulation as outlined in the Pro-Innovation Approach to AI has created a confusing, duplicative and burdensome compliance landscape for local government to navigate. Responses to principles outlined in the White Paper by regulators, as requested by the previous Government, indicate a lack of coordination with gaps related to some principles and duplication of others. This fragmented approach from different agencies hinders innovation, stifles agility and places the burden on councils to navigate the complexity.  Regulation needs to be coherent and coordinated to ensure that councils can confidently deploy AI and retain the trust of their communities. A centralised and proactive approach to regulation development with clear leadership by DSIT, is essential to ensure clarity and confidence across the sector and can foster more innovation. 
  • AI can be a tool for promoting digital inclusion, for example by providing more accessible technologies for people with disabilities, but digital needs careful consideration in the deployment and design of AI. We welcome the establishment of a new digital inclusion team within the DSIT Centre of Digital Government, and the Secretary of State recognising this as a key priority area. It is vital that local government’s role in addressing digital exclusion, and AI deployment are a key part of this strategy and work is supported at a local government level to deliver consistent and well-resourced digital inclusion programmes. 

LGA view on relevant recommendations: 

Continue to support and grow the AI Safety Institute (AISI) to maintain and expand its research on model evaluations, foundational safety and societal resilience research. 

  • There should not be a sole focus on frontier models but rather models that the public sector and citizens are already utilising widely currently. 

Ensure all sponsor departments include a focus on enabling safe AI innovation in their strategic guidance to regulators. 

  • It's crucial that there is coordination across central government departments and regulators to address challenges facing councils in navigating a confusing regulatory and guidance landscape. 

Work with regulators to accelerate AI in priority sectors and implement pro-innovation initiatives like regulatory sandboxes. 

  • Given the challenges that councils often face with a lack of coherence and clarity across different regulatory regimes, the LGA welcomes proposals for regulatory sandboxes in trialling innovative approaches which some councils are already using to innovate internally. The learning could then be shared across the local government sector and the wider public sector where relevant. 

Require all regulators to publish annually how they have enabled innovation and growth driven by AI in their sector. 

  • As evidenced in the regulator responses to the Pro-Innovation Approach to AI Regulation, it would be helpful for accountability if DSIT coordinated across regulators’ plans to regulate against the principles outlined in the White Paper, assess which regulators respond to each principle and develop a plan for any gaps that may occur.   

Support the AI assurance ecosystem to increase trust and adoption by:

  • Investing significantly in the development of new assurance tools, including through an expansion to AISI’s systemic AI safety fast grants programme, to support emerging safety research and methods. Building government-backed high-quality assurance tools that assess whether AI systems perform as claimed and work as intended. 

  • The focus of assurance should not be simply on frontier models but rather on the models that are being utilised across the public sector currently and being engaged with by citizens on a daily basis.
  • AI Management Essentials: We welcome the consultation launch of AI Management Essentials (AMIE) by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s (DSIT). As a government standard that is built on existing international standards and aligned with the UK regulatory principles, this will provide clarity particularly if made mandatory across public sector procurement. If not made mandatory, councils will likely incur the same challenges experienced in cyber security resulting in a cluttered, duplicative, and confusing space that fails to foster trustworthiness in supply chain security. Given a core aim of AIME is removing duplication, it is crucial that there is clarity on the connection between AIME and other frameworks that exist in DSIT, such as the Software Code of Practice.
  • We believe more could be done to strengthen the safety landscape. A challenging aspect of assurance in local government is that councils often have to undertake the assurance themselves, which results in multiple varying approaches to due diligence between councils, asking suppliers or vendors the same questions with no third-party assurance. It’s vital therefore to save capacity both of council officers, and vendors (particularly SMEs), that assurance has mandatory third-party verification, and this is trusted by public sector buyers. However, we recognise the supply gap that exists for AI auditors in the UK, and welcome DSIT’s role in increasing trusted third-party auditors.  
  • There is also a vital role for PBOs such as Crown Commercial Services (CCS) and local government led organisations to undertake more coordinated assurance and verification on behalf of councils purchasing through their framework agreements. This would not only streamline the process but also significantly reduce the resource burden on both councils (as buyers) and vendors. Standardised cyber and information security across core frameworks would also make it easier to assess like for like across competitors. 

Pillar two: Change lives by embracing AI

Adopt a “Scan > Pilot > Scale” approach in government 

LGA view:

  • The LGA firmly believes that holistic support is needed for local government to innovate with digital technology. Our recent Local Government White Paper calls for the establishment of a Local Government Centre for Digital Technology (LGCDT). The LGCDT will empower local authorities to harness the potential of digital technology, driving innovation, improving efficiency, and enhancing service delivery for communities across the UK. It will serve as a collaborative hub for local authorities, central government, industry experts, and community stakeholders to address the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the digital age. By fostering knowledge sharing, co-creating solutions, and driving collective action, the LGCDT will enable local authorities to overcome shared challenges and unlock new opportunities.
  • This approach would make it easier to share learning and innovations within local government with other parts of the public sector – something the CDDO is aspiring to do. A centre for local government digital could play a pivotal role in reducing the digital divide, addressing public sector reform, and promoting economic growth if local government is funded and empowered to be more innovative, technologically inclusive, and sustainable. 

LGA view on relevant recommendations: 

Appointing an AI lead for each mission to help identify where AI could be a solution within the mission setting, considering the user needs from the outset. 

  • We welcome a coordinated public sector approach. Local government must be represented on strategic boards and have the sector’s unique challenges and opportunities understood. 
     

A cross government, technical horizon scanning and market intelligence capability who understands AI capabilities and use-cases as they evolve to work closely with the mission leads and maximise the expertise of both. 

  • It's vital that there are more opportunities for market shaping and pre-procurement engagement between the public sector and innovators, to ensure that those in local government have access and knowledge of cutting edge innovations. At the LGA, we piloted a Tech Innovation Showcase where we showcased SME solutions against challenge statements submitted by local government to facilitate more use case learning exchange between SMEs and councils. 

Consistent use of a framework for how to source AI - whether to build in-house, buy, or run innovation challenges - that evolves over time, given data, capability, industry contexts and evaluation of what’s worked. 

  • The LGA welcomes a framework that could support public servants in the decision of whether to build in-house, buy or run innovation challenges in the use of AI. The LGA has targeted much of our support in strengthening councils ‘responsible buying of AI’ processes, as well as facilitating an AI Practitioners Network, a community of practice for up to 250 local government officers who develop their own tools in-house. Sharing intelligence across the public sector for what has worked and why, tailored for context, would be significant in fostering innovation and reducing duplicative resource expenditure. 


A rapid prototyping capability that can be drawn on for key projects where needed, including technical and delivery resource to build and test proof of concepts, leveraging in-house AI expertise, together with specialists in design and user experience. 

  • It’s vital that local government would have access to this form of capability that was independent of vendors. Stronger partnerships with technologists within academia could be forged to build this capability. 


A faster, multi-stage gated and scaling AI procurement process that enables easy and quick access to small-scale funding for pilots and only layers bureaucratic controls as the investment-size gets larger. 

  • Providing a mechanism for the collective purchasing of AI products that numerous councils could use is vital. A key function of the LGCDT will be an intelligent procurement operation. This function will analyse technology markets, facilitate collective bargaining, and enable councils to collectively procure products and services, addressing market failures and improving value for money. This approach will foster innovative procurement practices that promote localised economic growth and productivity. This would save public funds and foster collaboration between councils, and local government with other parts of the public sector. This could also ensure strong cyber security, data protection and ethical standards are created at a sector level. The i.AI in No.10 also provides an opportunity through the development of tools and products that can be utilised by the public sector. However, local government needs, priorities, and context must be factored into their pipeline. 


A scaling service for successful pilots with senior support and central funding resource. 

  • There’s a unique experimentation opportunity within local government given the 317 councils that exist across England delivering the same services albeit with different governance approaches, local demographics and service pipelines. If pilots were applied to local government and evaluated from the outset for the factors that contributed to its success, learning could be shared across the local government sector for faster scaling and across the wider public sector. However, support must be provided for coordinating the pilots, including technologist and evaluation support, as well as wraparound support for safe and responsible deployment.

Enable public and private sectors to reinforce each other 

LGA view:

  • There is a well-documented risk that AI provision is set to be highly concentrated among  a very small number of global technology companies. Market concentration and lack of competition can lead to high costs with limited value, significant costs related to data sharing access such as APIs, a lack of improvements to the technology and service, and unsatisfactory security practices. Local Government uniquely already has several service areas where there is market dominance by a small number of suppliers. This includes planning, elections, adult, and children’s social care case management systems, and in the delivery of revenues and benefits. There has been significant up-selling and marketing towards local government over the last two years by companies selling AI products, often leveraging existing contracts and relationships. Without sufficient skills across the sector and an immature assurance ecosystem regarding AI, there are continued challenges in identifying genuinely beneficial products or in assuring the trustworthiness of products and vendors.
  • To address concerns regarding market concentration by a handful of global companies, more must be done to foster competition, particularly for SMEs, and local government recognised as a vital vehicle for making this happen. The Procurement Act 2023 provides a unique opportunity to foster the work of SMEs and work preventatively on market concentration. This legislation introduces measures to streamline procurement for smaller businesses and enhance transparency through the development of a central digital platform. This platform presents a valuable opportunity to develop and integrate assurance measures centrally, potentially through collaboration with the new Procurement Review Unit (PRU).  

LGA view on relevant recommendations: 

Procure smartly from the AI ecosystem as both its largest customer and as a market shaper. 

  • Local Government procurement across 317 councils in England is valued at £127.1billion annual spend. Local Government plays a significant role in the public sector in market shaping, and fostering SME markets. 

Publish best-practice guidance, results, case-studies and open-source solutions through a single “AI Knowledge Hub” 

  • The LGA would welcome this coordinated approach across the public and private sectors to share best practice on AI solutions. We have been developing a Local Government use case hub to share best practice across councils, and would welcome more cross sectoral learning. 
     

In the next 3 months, the Digital Centre of Government should identify a series of quick wins to support the adoption of the scan, pilot scale approach and enable public and private sector to reinforce each other. 

  • There’s significant potential in scan, pilot and scale approaches in local government. The LGA, utilising its existing networks, stands ready to work with the Digital Centre of Government in identifying some of the key opportunities in local government services and business functions. 

Address private-sector-user-adoption barriers 

LGA view on relevant recommendations:

Leverage the new Industrial Strategy. The development of a new Industrial Strategy presents an opportunity to drive collective action to support AI adoption across the economy. 

  • The Local Government Association welcomes the publication of the Industrial Strategy Green Paper. The Government has rightfully identified Kick Starting Economic Growth as one of its Five Missions. As we set out in our local government white paper the public wants to see a return to greater prosperity, with a fairer distribution of wealth, alongside the protection of the environment. We believe that these ambitions can best be achieved by working in partnership with councils, drawing on their crucial roles in identifying the opportunities for growth, working with the private sector, undertaking planning and regeneration, working on skills and training and facilitating accessible and affordable transport and digital infrastructure. 

Appoint AI Sector Champions in key industries like the life sciences, financial services and the creative industries to work with industry and government and develop AI adoption plans.

  • The LGA would welcome the appointment of AI sector champions in key industries and sectors, like local government, who understand their context and can drive forward growth and digital transformation within their respective sectors. The champions could also coordinate with each other to share learning and best practices across sectors.