LG/WWW

Organising a sustainable peer group This week LocalGov Digital launched a  peer group for the South West of England . Added to the newly created group for the South of England and established groups for London and the Midlands this now makes four. The groups are primarily there to help regions establish how to work to the Local Government Digital Service Standard  (LGDSS), but can cover whatever the regional leads feel would best meet the needs of the group. This is great news for digital practitioners interested in thinking, doing and sharing to create better public services. What if you're thinking "where's the group for my region?" though, if that's the case then why not start a group yourself. LocalGov Digital can definitely offer you: Publicity through the LocalGov Digital newsletter ,  Twtter account ,  website  and Eventbrite page . Workshop plans and agendas from other peer groups Advice from other regional peer group leads via a dedicated

Yesterday I was at the Midlands Peer Group , set up to support councils in the region use the Local Government Digital Service Standard. The event was expertly facilitated by Julia McGinley and Kurtis Johnson , and built on the success of  the London Peer Group  and  the Summit at City Hall the week before. I don't work in the Midlands, but there isn't a group for the South (yet) and we're starting to use the Standard at my place, so I wanted to hear from, and talk to other councils who are in the same situation. It's exciting to see councils start to use the Standard, and I've been amazed by the speed of progress. This time last year ago it didn't exist and has come so far already in a short space of time, thanks in part to support from people in organisations like the Government Digital Service . If you work for a council, you can sign your local authority up to the Standard here . For me the main question now is, how we can enable the creation of mo