Computer Weekly UKtech50: Rising Stars 2014
After working at the Government Digital Service (GDS) as head of business transformation, Lucie Glenday joined Surrey County Council as chief digital officer two years ago.
One of the first chief digital officers in local government, she is tasked with building and championing a “digital culture” that puts users first and delivers the best, low-cost public services possible.
She is also responsible for creating joined-up services through the delivery of a digital data and knowledge-sharing platform.
Talking at an event in October, Glenday described the need for a set of common standards to develop digital innovations.
“There’s a lot of willing out there and a lot of acknowledgement that something needs to be done,” she said. “Just enabling a forum and the ability to sign up to some form of standards would get us an awfully long way.”
Surrey has joined up with six other councils in the south-east, forming a collaborative group called South East 7 (SE7).
“Surrey has taken over the digital role for those councils,” said Glenday, noting that products can be white-labelled and shared with other councils if common standards are adhered to.
“It’s not just local authorities – you’ve got districts, boroughs and public health, you’ve got all of the local public service providers – and there’s a conversation that has to happen around common standards and making sure we have them in place.”