A smarter use of technology and ICT solutions to deliver county council services more efficiently could save taxpayers in Nottinghamshire more than £8m by the end of the year.

Nottinghamshire County Council’s ICT Strategy 2014-17 is rolling out an ambitious modernisation programme, including:

•A mobilisation project which will provide 1,500 social care employees with tablet computers to work ‘on the move’ by the end of 2015, with estimated productivity benefits of £4.7m.

•A new electronic monitoring system covering home-based care services which will help design care packages within budgets and monitor service delivery, with anticipated savings of £2m per year.

•A new contract with Virgin Media to deliver broadband in Council offices and schools, saving an estimated £800,000 per year, starting from October 2015.

•A fax server solution, supporting the digital switch-over of faxing, which aims to save up to £300,000 per year.
The year-on-year efficiencies will contribute towards the £77m in savings the Council needs to make by 2017/18 because of significant cuts to its funding from Government and greater demand for services.

A recent report by think-tank, the Policy Exchange says that £10bn could be saved nationally by the end of the next Parliament if Councils used technology and data in a smarter way.

Councillor Darren Langton, Vice-Chairman of Finance and Property Committee at the council, says the authority is leading the way by putting technology at the heart of modern service-delivery.