The Government IT Profession Briefing for Local Government Stakeholders

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The Government IT Profession Briefing for
Local Government Stakeholders
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PURPOSE OF PAPER
The paper provides an overview of the ambition
set out for the Government IT Profession. The
paper is intended to provide for Local Government
stakeholders the context to the Government IT
Professionalism agenda and to serve as a useful
point of reference as we embark on discussions
across all Local Government authorities on how
best the agenda can be implemented within Local
Government.
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THE AMBITION

• The vision outlined in Transformational
  Government Enabled by Technology launched in
  November 2005 requires a number of key
  transformations. It requires us to design
  services around the citizen or the business, not
  the provider. It also requires us to move to a
  shared services culture and release efficiencies
  through standardisation, simplification and
  sharing.
• The third transformation focuses on a broadening
  and deepening of governments professionalism and
  skills in terms of the planning, delivery,
  management, skills and governance of IT-enabled
  change. Through the Government IT Profession,
  your Chief Information Officer/Head of Profession
  and his or her senior leadership team will
  improve the capability of your department to
  deliver better, more efficient public services
  enabled by technology.
• The importance of making rapid moves in this
  direction is clear. The Governments reform and
  efficiency agendas are critically underpinned by
  IT-enabled business change. Our projects and
  programmes tend to be amongst the most
  challenging anywhere in the world for example,
  there are no examples in the private sector where
  the systems support complex products and services
  to 60 million customers, yet we have many. We are
  heavily targeted by terrorists, hackers and
  criminals, yet we require openness and
  accessibility to our information and systems by
  businesses, citizens and public servants across
  the land. And the Press and Parliament continue
  to remind us that we have not always been as
  successful as we need to be in this area.
• Our aim is to create a joined up, Government-wide
  IT Profession which provides IT professionals
  with a career of mutual benefit to the individual
  and the Government. We estimate there to be
  around 15,000 people who could join our
  profession within Central Government with another
  35,000 in the wider public sector.

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BACKGROUND

• Launched in 2005, the Government IT Profession
  brings together all IT professionals working
  across the UK public sector in government
  departments, agencies, local government and the
  wider public sector. The aim of the profession is
  to recognise a government wide IT Profession up
  to and including board level and to provide
  individuals with the opportunity to reach the
  highest levels of the public service.
• In practical terms, the Government IT Profession
  will identify who is working in government IT,
  what skills they have, whether they have any
  development needs or desires and then provide
  opportunities for progression. From an
  organisational perspective, the Government IT
  Profession will aim to increase our successes
  projects, service delivery, etc. To do this each
  organisation needs to know what skills it has and
  where what skills it needs and where there are
  gaps. In short, organisations need a structured
  approach to the development of skills, be that
  through formal training, informal networking,
  secondments and transfers or mentoring.
• The profession was created in response to the
  identified need for greater professionalism a
  recognition of skills and experience and
  increasing the cross-over between IT and the
  business. In preparing our plans we have
  listened to IT professionals and their views on
  what it was like to work in Government IT today.
  They value the experience that they have gained,
  but do not necessarily feel valued. They want
  the opportunity to reach their full potential but
  dont feel supported in this aim in practical
  ways. In short they have good jobs but not good
  careers. In addition, there have been calls from
  IT professionals for a greater sense of
  recognition and a sense of community.

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IS THE GOVERNMENT IT PROFESSION HERE TO STAY?

• Government will always be in the business of
  change, and all major change now is IT-enabled.
  Therefore the quality of the public sector IT
  profession is always going to be very important.
  The agenda has strong support at the highest
  levels of the Government, but aside from
  political process it is driven by a very active
  CIO Council.
• There are a lot of external drivers for this
  cross sector, inclusive approach. The skills
  framework is closely based on the private sector
  industry standard - SFIA, affiliated with BCS,
  e-skills UK, NCC and other suppliers.

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SO WHATS IN IT FOR YOU?

• Identification of strengths and areas for
  development against a framework which is the
  Industry standard (and relates closely to private
  sector standard too).
• A bigger focus on skills and development and
  supporting approaches to learning and knowledge
  share which dont have to be expensive raising
  discussion and helping line managers to see where
  they need to develop their staff now in order to
  be equipped for the future.
• Career path development
• Clarifying what career means for IT professionals
  helping people to look much more at their
  broad competency areas, and the skill progression
  outlined by the framework.
• Helping people to look at possibilities across
  the whole of the public and private sector. See
  the possibilities for gaining wider experience of
  different organisations and different challenges.
  IT is an area where change can be rapid. There
  are a huge range of organisations that require IT
  as a successful enabler of change and the profile
  of skills required varies a lot.
• Development of a vacancies section on the CIO
  Council website to advertise jobs within each
  competency area. Awareness raising with
  recruitment teams in hundreds of organisations
  and links with major recruitment sites.
• Membership of a profession spanning the entire
  public sector
• Gradual commonality across organisations and
  sectors facilitating career movement
• Links with a wide range of public sector
  organisations

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KEY COMPONENTS OF THE APPROACH

• A Professional Competency Framework
• Networking and mentoring
• A Government IT Academy
• Private Sector collaboration
• Engagement with Professional Bodies
• Communication
• Self-selection and registration
• Roll out of the IT Profession

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A PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK

• To support the sharing of best practice and
  people across central Government and, over time,
  the wider public sector. The Government IT Skills
  Framework comprises 78 skills grouped into 5 core
  competency groups. This model is a version of the
  industry-wide Skills Framework for the
  Information Age (SFIA) adapted slightly to meet
  the needs of the individuals working within
  government IT and developed through a
  collaborative effort led by e-Skills UK (the
  Sector Skills Council for IT and
  telecommunications) and involving partners
  representing industry, government, professional
  bodies, practitioners and the academic world.
• This skills framework is specifically focussed on
  the specialist skills required for jobs within
  IT. However, the Government IT Profession
  recognises that IT Professionals also possess
  many valuable, generalist skills such as
  communication and management that complement
  their specialist skills. The ambition for the
  profession is that, in addition to the skills
  framework, it will also optimise the use of local
  behavioural competency frameworks thus taking
  into account any additional skills required, such
  as the ability to translate technological
  information so that non-IT Professionals can
  understand it and use it to the advantage of the
  business.

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COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK
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NETWORKING AND MENTORING

• Networking and mentoring across competency
  groups, both within organisations and across
  organisations to encourage the sharing of best
  practice and experience. Individuals will, over
  time, have a mentor in their competency group
  providing them with a view on the training, job
  experience and qualifications they need to reach
  their potential.
• This will grow out of the establishment of
  Competency Leads, one for each competency area.
  They will act as champions for activity in their
  organisation to support that competency.
• National Competency Leads already established (
  see overleaf).
• Competency Leads conference in May will play an
  important part in forming the future shape of the
  profession. We want to ensure that Local
  Government are well represented there.

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ORGANISATION COMPETENCY LEADS TERMS OF REFERENCE

• Each Organisation Competency Lead is responsible
  for
• Working as part of the local Government IT
  Profession management team
• Identifying members of your competency
• Setting the direction for their competency group
• Working with the National Competency Leads to
  create a sense of community across the public
  sector
• Identifying activities (on-going or new) that
  will add value to the members of the competency
  group
• Engaging members of the competency group in
  planning, managing and taking part in Government
  IT Profession activities locally and nationally
• Knowing who their brightest and best are
• Being the primary point of contact for the
  National Competency Leads and for the Government
  IT Profession

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NATIONAL COMPETENCY LEADS
CIO (Board level)
Enterprise Strategy and Architecture
Delivery Management
Martin Bellamy, DWP
Jon Wrennall, HMRC
Business Change Management
Architecture, Information and Innovation
Procurement and Management Support
Solutions Delivery and Implementation
Service Delivery
Paul Day Hants CC
Darren Scates DCA
Carol Piper HMRC
Chris Chant DEFRA
Alicia ONeill DCA
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NATIONAL COMPETENCY LEADS TERMS OF REFERENCE

• The National Competency Leads are responsible
  for
• Setting the direction for their competency group
• Working with the Competency Leads appointed by
  organisations to create a sense of community
  across the public sector
• Working with the Government IT Profession team to
  put in place development opportunities for
  individuals within each community
• Knowing who their brightest and best are
• Being the primary point of contact for external
  bodies when engaging with the Government IT
  Profession on a particular topic e.g. the
  development of the ISEB Certification in Business
  Change
• Act as (or nominate appropriate) reviewers for
  Government IT Profession products such as the IT
  Academy Strategy

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THE GOVERNMENT IT ACADEMY

• A Government IT Academy to develop professional
  skills and capabilities which distinguish them as
  IT Professionals. The Government IT Academy is
  not necessarily about the bricks and mortar of
  a building and may remain virtual. It is about
  sharing common experiences with peers and
  creating a culture and identity.
• The Academy Strategy is now nearing completion.
  The intention is to provide a structure and
  training options that will allow us to deliver a
  career and not just a job to IT Professionals.
• The skills taught will be about more than simply
  technology, delivered through a range of
  different activities.
• It will build upon many existing development
  opportunities to develop IT skills that
• Support every career level, from new IT
  practitioner to CIO
• Support the Government IT Competency and Skills
  framework
• Complement the core skills in the Professional
  Skills for Government programme
• Piloted two courses last year, IT Enabled Policy
  Delivery and Delivery Through Suppliers, with
  Oxford Universitys Saïd Business School.
  Running several more Delivery Through Suppliers,
  aimed at SCS level, delivered in partnership with
  Intellect, the suppliers body. Very good
  feedback so far. More courses coming on stream
  over time.

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IT ACADEMY - OBJECTIVES

• Provide structured learning opportunities in
  context of whole career path
• Provide context mechanism for identifying gaps
  in learning provision
• Support/help embed the competency groups and
  frameworks, and tie in with industry-wide
  qualifications (when developed)
• Attract and develop the best people for the job
  (graduate/Fast Stream/other)
• Facilitate sharing of best practice and build
  on/make accessible the best existing learning
  opportunities (no re-inventing the wheel!)
• Integrate with SCS-wide Leadership Framework
• Meet the most urgent skills needs immediately and
  put mechanisms in place to address the rest
• Provide simple consistent access to multiple
  types and sources of learning
• Facilitate skills development through broader
  experience e.g. secondments
• Facilitate networking and understanding of the
  value of different competencies
• Strengthen the IT Profession brand, culture and
  identity

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IT ACADEMY - PRINCIPLES

• Not tied to single location
• Most effective learning environment for each
  initiative
• Government IT Profession, CIO Council, local
  HoP, Competency leads lead on content
• Not tied to a single supplier select best
  supplier for each initiative
• Governed by steering board representative of
  Government IT Profession
• Procurement support and administration provided
  by National School of Government
• Build skills or give experience most
  effectively gained by government IT professionals
  with their peers
• Build on what already exists provide banner
  under which existing development opportunities
  can be made more widely available

Where

• Build culture and sense of identity for
  Government IT Profession
• Provide a focal point for sharing of best
  practice and experience
• Address key broad skills gaps identified by the
  business, CIOs and other local HoPs, SOCITM and
  IT professionals themselves
• To build capability and capacity in government
  IT and support the successful delivery of
  government.
• All IT professionals working across the public
  sector in local and central Government, and
  government agencies
• All levels of IT professional from new
  practitioner to CIO/Head of IT
• Work closely and impartially with supplier
  community and relevant professional bodies
• At relevant points in an individuals career as
  an IT professional where need to
• Build broad IT-related skills
• Come together with IT professional peers to
  share

Why
How
Who
What
When
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IT ACADEMY TRAINING PROVISION - SUMMARY
CIO Leadership Development Programme
CIO/HoP
Core
Delivery Thru Suppliers
IT Enabled Policy Delivery
Managing Business Change
Reliable Project Delivery
Elective modules by technical specialism
Competency
Senior Manager
Senior Managers Core Programme
Grade7 Manager
Core
and / or
New Executive (management) Workshop
New Executive (technical) Workshop
Elective modules by Competency or for project
Senior Lead Practitioners
Change Management
IT Landscape
Technology specific
PPM principles
Core, timed for Fast Stream
Business of Govt/Culture
Svc/Solution Delivery
(New) Practitioner
Foundation Programme
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Government IT Academy
Community-based Skills-building
Development through Experience
Academy Training
Movement between.
CIO Leadership Devt
Private Sector
Senior Manager modules

• Competency specific
• Skills Events e.g. Brown Bag Lunches, training
  afternoons
• Knowledge exchanges, networks, libraries
• Mentoring and mentoring families
• Communities of interest/practice
• Local, national, departmental links

Competency specific elective modules
Wider Public Sector
New Executive workshop
Home Organisation
Central Govt Department or Agency
Foundation Modules
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OUTLINE SYLLABUS CALENDAR YEARS 1-3
2008
2007
2009
pilot
Delivery Thru Suppliers
IT-Enabled Policy Delivery
New Executive (Mgt) workshop
Reliable Project Delivery workshop
Managing Business Change
CIO Leadership Development Prog
tbc
Competency Leads Conference
Additionally, we will be offering ongoing seminar
and secondment programmes from 2007, and
supporting the development and delivery of
Foundation Modules for graduates
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PRIVATE SECTOR COLLABORATION

• The members of the CIO Council have joined CIO
  Connect, a network of the CIOs from most of the
  top 300 companies in Britain.
• We continue to have strong support from the
  supplier community for our professionalism
  programme and, for example, six supplier
  organisations were directly involved in the most
  recent IT Academy workshop.
• Private sector collaboration we have input to a
  wide range of activities
• BCS, NCC, Intellect and e-Skills UK form the
  ProfIT Alliance our Senior Director sits on
  their Steering Board.
• Working closely with SFIA, BCS, IET, NCC.
  Making sure the CIO Council view is
  well-represented on any cross-industry fora.
• Working with e-skills UK, IT sector skills
  council, on long-term goal of common
  qualifications framework.

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ENGAGEMENT WITH PROFESSIONAL BODIES

• We have positioned ourselves at the forefront of
  the broader IT professionalism agenda in the UK
  through proactive engagement with professional
  bodies. We are actively engaged with
  organisations such as the British Computer
  Society on their Professionalism in IT programme
  to develop a qualifications framework closely
  aligned to our own competency framework we are
  working with organisations such as Intellect who
  are developing a framework for organisational
  professionalism on behalf of the supplier
  community organisations such as Socitm are
  supporting our roll-out to the local government
  sector and we continue to work closely with
  e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT and
  Telecommunications.

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PARTNERSHIP WORKING

• Partnership with related professions, building
  excellent working relationships and encouraging
  the exchange of knowledge and skills between
  professions
• Information Management, Information Security and
  Information Assurance
• Communications, Procurement, Programme and
  Project Management
• Also partnership within the profession
• We have working groups, consisting primarily of
  CIOs, overseeing our work on key issues,
  including Performance Reward Working Group, IT
  Skills Working Group,
• IT Academy Working Group.

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COMMUNICATION

• Communication to reach 50,000 IT staff and their
  managers.
• CIO s in Central Government are already liaising
  with the broader profession and we have published
  articles in the trade press.
• CIOs have started a programme of face to face
  meetings with as many of their people as possible
  in their role as the local Head of Profession.
• The Government IT Profession team are also
  holding a programme of road shows to engage with
  individual organisations and other communication
  events will follow in due course.
• An e-Bulletin every two months updating you on
  some of the latest developments within the
  Government IT Profession
• A website where you can read about the wider
  Transformational Government agenda and register
  your interest in becoming a member of the
  Government IT Profession
• www.cio.gov.uk/itprofession

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SELF-SELECTION AND REGISTRATION

• We launched our website (www.cio.gov.uk/itprofessi
  on) in July 2005 in order to allow us to
  Communicate Directly with the IT professionals in
  the wider public sector, Local Government and
  Central Government. This enables individuals to
  register an interest in the profession and to
  directly engage with our agenda.
• Many IT professionals have registered an interest
  in the profession to date, allowing us to engage
  them directly on our agenda through, for example,
  regular newsletters and roadshows. These
  individuals represent Central Government (both
  departments and agencies), local government
  (local authorities, NHS, police) and devolved
  administrations.
• Register Your Interest
• www.cio.gov.uk/itprofession
• Gives you
• An e-Bulletin every two months updating you on
  some of the latest developments within the
  Government IT Profession
• Access to IT job adverts from all parts of the
  public sector in our vacancies section, plus
  links to the most comprehensive public jobs
  websites
• Access to the Government IT skills framework,
  information on development opportunities and
  other useful resources
• Invitations to selected events, conferences and
  road shows, including opportunities to network
  with the wider public sector IT community.

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ROLL OUT OF THE IT PROFESSION

• Roll out of the IT Profession is owned by
  individual organisations. The IT Profession will
  be a key enabler for growing and retaining IT
  talent.
• We are directly engaged with a number of
  organisations across the Health, Education,
  Justice, Local Government, Central Government,
  Defence, Devolved Administration Sectors. Links
  are being established across organisational
  boundaries to share best practice and experience
• We need to work together to understand what
  elements of the IT Profession are of optimum
  benefit to the wider public sector. For Local
  Government, we need to understand what
  stakeholders need and ensure that they are fully
  engaged and represented within the Profession.

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ORIGINS OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT STEERING GROUP

• The group has been created to enable Local
  Government representatives to provide the
  strategic leadership for their organisations in
  defining the optimum methodology for the
  implementation of the Government IT Profession.
• The Government IT Profession team will provide
  ongoing support to Local Government and work in
  partnership with them to ensure successful
  implementation.

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REMIT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT STEERING GROUP

• Due to the multi-pronged approach the Government
  IT Profession has, there are many ways in which
  the IT Profession can be implemented. Rather
  than approach the implementation of the
  Government IT Profession from a purely central
  government perspective, the Steering Group will
  own the strategy for engaging with Local
  Government, therefore directly influencing how
  this should happen in Local Government. The IT
  Profession is keen to engage with Local
  Government to establish the best means of
  approach,hence the creation of the steering
  group.
• The Groups remit is
• To provide the strategic leadership for the
  implementation of the Government IT Profession
  within Local Government
• To determine the optimum methodologies for
  engaging with Local Government

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TERMS OF REFERENCE

• The main purpose of the Group is to provide
  strategic leadership for the implementation of
  the Government IT Profession within Local
  Government. The Group sets, agrees and owns the
  strategy for implementation.
• Objectives
• To set measures of success and put in place the
  plans to support the overall implementation of
  the Local Government IT Profession against agreed
  plans.
• To support the overall aims of the wider
  Government IT profession development, which
  include
• delivering better on projects involving IT
• genuinely improving services through technology
• improving ability to manage change in our
  organisations
• increasing the movement of IT people across
  different organisations and different parts of
  government
• improving the profile of government IT both
  within the government sector and also with the
  private sector
• being able to identify skills that exist within
  the IT profession in government when required
• increasing the credibility of IT within public
  services generally with additional emphasis on
  also increasing the credibility and standing of
  public sector IT within the wider IT sector.
• stimulating joint working, shared services,
  sharing of resources, joint recruitment and
  retention models
• learning more about the outside world drawing
  in public, private, supplier, etc. experience
• developing mentoring to improve skills and share
  experience. CONTD

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TERMS OF REFERENCE contd

• To identify and manage risks to the
  implementation to the Government IT Profession
  within Local Government.
• To identify barriers and issues in meeting this
  Terms of Reference, resolving those where
  possible.
• To improve the overall profile, perception, and
  deliverable value of the IT profession in Local
  Government, especially the way in which IT
  generally is perceived and adopted on
  transformational programmes. This includes
  working closely with professional groups.
• To ensure widespread and deep commitment across
  the whole of Local Government to the Government
  IT Profession, including adoption of the SFIA
  framework of competencies, registering as part of
  the IT profession for all IT professionals, and
  in other areas as required.
• To support the sharing and pooling of IT
  resources across Local Government, including ease
  of movement across organisational boundaries for
  career development, and sharing of scarce
  resources seeking input from local authorities
  too support the join-up of IT professional teams
  where appropriate.
• To represent Local Government IT Profession more
  generally in the way in which the wider IT
  government IT profession priorities are set and
  developed, influencing the national programme and
  ensuring professional advocacy.
• In doing all of this, the organisations
  represented on the Steering Group will set an
  example in the adoption of models, frameworks and
  standards. We will actively support, publicly
  encourage wider adoption, working with other
  professional bodies such as SOCITM, BSC and
  others, in order to maximise the pace of change
  and the effectiveness of these Terms of
  Reference.
• We will put in place an action plan which will
  identify and evidence progress being made,
  setting clear outcomes and timescales for change.

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MEMBERSHIP

• Jos Creese, (Chair) CIO Hampshire CC
• Samantha Ruddock, IT Profession team (Cabinet
  Office)
• Nicola Ratcliffe, Kennet District
• Nadira Hussain, Tower Hamlets
• Steve Sankey, Nottingham County
• Dylan Roberts, Leeds Met
• Steve Williams, Sunderland Met
• Mick Phythion, Ryedale District
• Helen Finnimore, Teesdale District
• Nick Roberts, Surrey Council
• Henri Reinbolt, Greenwich LB
• Steve Ripley, Bexley LB
• Tonino Ciuffini, Warwickshire CC
• Tony Riding, SOCITM
• Adrian Hancock, SOCITM

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GENERIC IMPLEMENTATION CHECKPOINTS

Creating and agreeing an overall sector
implementation strategy

Raising awareness and building interest within
organisations
Appointing Competency leads within organisations
Initial and ongoing engagement meetings with IT
Heads of Profession, Senior management teams, HR
leads, Operational Staff
Building up membership to the IT Profession and
to Competency Groups - agreeing a programme of
activities

Actively influencing the building of an IT
Profession
Building communities within and across
organisations
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IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING

Qtr 1
Qtr 2
Qtr 3
Develop and implement plans within authorities
Develop and implement plans across authorities
Consider Wider Sector ambitions
Quick wins
Consider Organisational needs
Internal consultation
LGSG consultation

Long term planning
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IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING - within authorities
Qtr 1
Qtr 2
Qtr 3
34
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING - within authorities
Qtr 1
Qtr 2
Qtr 3
35
Next steps

• Get involved in the wider Local Government
  engagement
• Provide a nominated Implementation Lead in every
  authority
• Identify your key stakeholders and let us know if
  more needs to be done to get them on board
• Decide how your authority can provide Competency
  Leads we want Local Government to be involved
  in the debate at the Competency Leads Conference
  in May!
• Encourage your people to register an interest in
  the Government IT Profession www.cio.gov.uk/itprof
  ession
• Build your competency groups and work with us to
  start building communities for learning,
  networking and sharing