rumens.uk
#localgov Digital Services Manager and #digitaltransformation lead. Part of @LocalGovDigital. Advocate of technology enabled user centred design.
o7 CMDR
332 posts
658 followers
271 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
Digital and data sovereignty will become increasingly important as even more of the mechanics of how the state functions shift to digital and AI
comment in response to
post
What's not to like about being able to use the data the government already holds on you, for your own purposes.
Two considerations are:
* It's not for your own purposes if it's mandatory.
* It mustn't enable others to use data without consent.
Provided they don't become true, I think it's fine.
comment in response to
post
If intelligence is not the ability to store information, but to know where to find it, then perhaps the use of AI should be allowed in exams?
I think that effectively using AI to generate responses, and assessing the validity of its responses, will become critical skills in the very near future.
comment in response to
post
For me, one issue is even when the free market model does work reasonably well with a choice of suppliers to individual councils, it can be awful for service users, in fact so bad that it requires government intervention.
Parking apps are a good example of this: www.gov.uk/government/n...
comment in response to
post
It's an interesting post that I don't disagree with; any idea who wrote it?
It does feel slightly behind the curve given what MHCLG already said a couple of months ago around supplier engagement, market analysis, and adoption of common digital solutions.
mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2025/04/11/l...
comment in response to
post
I think the explanation should be, there already are credentials for things like right to work, residency status, entitlement to drive, free school meals, except they're locked away government IT systems.
Digital ID gives you access to use (and perhaps update) them whenever you choose to.
comment in response to
post
Even worse for Palace, if they're kicked out of Europe it seems Forest take their place, so rivals Brighton take Forest's spot in the UEFA Inter-Toto Conference Cup, or whatever it's called.
comment in response to
post
Does "Passed here" have to be by land?
comment in response to
post
I wonder if we'll see a return to the easyCouncil approach?
www.localis.org.uk/wp-content/u...
comment in response to
post
I wouldn't say I'm a fan but I do like that album, and there aren't many rappers that can sing that well, without autotune anyway!
I love the idea of crowdsourcing a spreadsheet of albums to listen to. Have you thought about creating a group to feed back on what others thought of them?
comment in response to
post
In this scenario, won't AI have strategy, creativity, and ethical decision making covered too?
It sounds like the promise of unfathomable redundancy as a human being.
comment in response to
post
Time by ELO or The Defamation of Strickland Banks by Plan B.
They're both concept albums with a narrative running from start to end.
comment in response to
post
Was this in an email?
If so, it makes perfect sense to advise the recipient to use the medium the message was sent through, and therefore they should have access to.
comment in response to
post
I'll be interested to see if this is being planned in a joined up way, and those regional hubs align with existing and proposed strategic authorities.
comment in response to
post
Yes, definitely. At the least the Roadmap should include support for adoption of Notify, Pay, One Login, and the emerging AI services, across the public sector.
comment in response to
post
Thanks, that's a really useful point.
You (and the others) will be a tough act to follow, but I'll do my best.
comment in response to
post
I bought some parasitic wasps online a couple of years ago to control aphids, but had no idea you could buy worms too.
I wonder what other creepy crawlies you can buy?
www.fargrohomeandgarden.co.uk/plant-protec...
comment in response to
post
My money's on the cleaners unplugging something.
comment in response to
post
Possibly, although the traditional top three parties in England make up the top three from results so far in 2025:
bsky.app/profile/elec...
comment in response to
post
There's a question of what constitutes a routine task, but even to someone who's hopeful about the use of technology in the public sector such as me, automating 100% of routine tasks seems quite optimistic.
comment in response to
post
For potential recruitees, some other questions around AI?
To what extent are you using AI to:
Assess whether you might be suitable for a role
Summarise or explain some of a role
Draft your CV
Draft a job application
comment in response to
post
For recruiters, some questions around AI?
What are you using to detect / do you care whether an application has been written using AI.
Are you using AI to sift applications.
Perhaps this is covered by your content design question but, are you using AI to write job advertisements / social posts.
comment in response to
post
One problem for many organisations is that whilst AI is good at simple, repetitive tasks, and therefore perhaps its introduction could reduce employees' work time by an hour a week, renegotiating the contracts of an entire workforce to generate cost savings can be prohibitively lengthy and costly.
comment in response to
post
Probably Joan is Awful. Although the plot was based around dystopian tech as so many are, it did manage to poke fun at itself, Streamberry being one example of that.
youareawful.com
I quite like Nosedive too, as despite being another dystopian tech episode it has a happy ending.
comment in response to
post
True, they could build something in three months but without domain specialists it's best a guess of how a social security system should work, not building effective and efficient new social security services.
Add to that, migrating data accurately even with domain specialists is tricky.
comment in response to
post
Some of your points about a regional strategy might be solved by devolution and a combined county authority for Sussex.
I also wonder if Open Digital Planning could be extended to become Open Planning in the future.
What do you think?
opendigitalplanning.org
comment in response to
post
I like its two pronged approach in warning readers of legal consequences, then warning them of supernatural consequences.
comment in response to
post
It's not too different to the pre-1974 boundaries.
wikishire.co.uk/map/#/centre...
comment in response to
post
Sure, but public sector services go beyond what the state mandates, particularly in health and local. Those services are used more and are closer to the service user.
I was really pleased that the latter was highlighted in the State of Digital Government Review.
www.gov.uk/government/p...
comment in response to
post
Would you have to apply for a change of use, to move from paying council tax to business rates on the property?
comment in response to
post
Yes, boring old data and information architecture, sometimes across multiple departments or organisations, is key to establishing the ‘once only’ rule mentioned in the Blueprint.
www.gov.uk/government/p....
comment in response to
post
Yes, there's a more fundamental difference to the business model too.
With public services it can be those who contribute the least who require the most (this is absolutely not a criticism of those individuals BTW).
With private services, often the more you put in, the more you get out.
comment in response to
post
Not always. This is a public sector website and the events advertised aren't paid for by tax.
booking.westberks.gov.uk/heritage_eve...
comment in response to
post
It's a UK thing too. I don't think the terminology matters too much, so long as the intent behind it is sound.
www.google.com/search?q=gov...