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In a drive to improve efficiency and to increase user participation, local authorities have been set eGovernment targets and priorities by central Government. However, limited resources, conflicting priorities and internal political pressure have resulted in a lack of focus when it comes to implementing such changes and progress towards achieving e-Government has a) been slower than expected and b) had less impact than anticipated.
Research undertaken at Brunel broadened knowledge of e-Government and delivered these benefits:
The research created a body of knowledge that enabled delivery of novel and effective change and is contributing to making the UK a world leader on e-Government.
Professor Patrick Dunleavy, as Director of the LSE Public Policy Group (PPG), has led a research programme on digital era governance. The results of this programme, through published research, evidence to Parliament and direct consulting to government agencies (including the National Audit Office), have had a significant impact on the UK government's approach to the delivery of government services online. Specifically, the research has allowed the government to develop policies that have facilitated speedier and more effective digital changes, and increased the breadth and quality of public service delivery online.
Healthy Living Pharmacies (HLPs) represent a new concept in community pharmacy services designed to meet public health needs through a nationally agreed but locally commissioned tiered framework. The White Paper, Pharmacy in England: Building on strengths, delivering the future, published in April 2008 described the role community pharmacy could play in supporting public health: "Pharmacies will become healthy living centres: promoting and supporting healthy living and health literacy; offering patients and the public healthy lifestyle advice, support on self care and a range of pressing public health concerns; treating minor ailments and; supporting patients with long-term conditions". A national framework for HLPs was developed then ratified by the National Public Health Leadership Forum for pharmacy (PHLFP) in January 2010. This was tested in Portsmouth Primary Care Trust. Findings of the project led to the HLP concept being rolled out across England in 2012 to 20 pathfinder sites (areas, regions, site sounds like an individual pharmacy) involving 100 pharmacies. As of March 2013, there were 478 HLPs across 28 areas and presently there are 721 HLPs in over 35 areas. There are a range of impacts that can be demonstrated from this research including changes to community practice and government policy; increase in public use of pharmacies and improved patient outcomes.
Thompson is recognised as a pioneer of Open Innovation thinking within the UK public sector. He has influenced a major shift in thinking in ICT-driven public service design towards open innovation, with demonstrable impact on public and private sector business models. His 2009 paper for George Osborne, The `Thompson Report', Open Source and Open Standards (Ref 1), launched a seismic change in thinking by government policy-makers, public servants, and private sector service providers. Thompson became a Cabinet Office advisor in 2011, and continues to provide critique and contribution to parliamentary reports and policy documents across government and industry, and support implementation within local government.
Expertise in mobile and location-aware web applications has underpinned the development of a revolutionary new security alarm system. Collaboration with an SME created, for the first time, a system to alert customers in real-time, via sensor-triggered cameras and phones. The impact of this collaboration has been to transform a UK company from a distributor of hardware to a leading innovator in security. More than £1 million of the company's £1.9 million turnover for 2012 was directly attributed to sales of the new system, now operating at more than 800 sites, providing improved security and cost savings — for example through preventing metal theft — for commercial, transport, ecclesiastical and construction sites across the UK.
Research on software and service engineering conducted at the University of East London has been successfully applied to the international telecom sector, within which it has contributed to the creation by Telecom Italia of a context-aware service platform and of mobile Value-Added Services based on that platform. The application of our work has had a positive impact on Telecom Italia's software development process, enabling an easier and faster integration of heterogeneous services necessary to provide mobile Value Added Services. The principal benefits have been to Telecom Italia's customers through the provision to them of improved telecom services, and to the company itself, which has been able to increase its customer base and profitability.
Research conducted at the University of Bath has helped in the design and implementation of effective service recovery interventions, leading to improvements in the delivery of public services. The research has addressed an on-going question for changes to service delivery: what can be done by central government when it determines that local government performance is unacceptable? The findings of a detailed empirical study of English and Welsh central government interventions led to a typology of intervention options designed to guide actions based on the type of problem and the improvement capability available. Recommendations from the research have led to improvements in the effectiveness of Welsh Government interventions when local government service delivery is (or is at risk of) failing. The research has established a set of pragmatic operating principles for all Welsh Government interventions with corresponding benefits for policy makers, practitioners, communities and citizens.
This case study describes impact resulting from research on assessing the performance of credit scoring models conducted by the Consumer Credit / Retail Banking Research Group of the Mathematics Department at Imperial College. The group's work has influenced both high-level industry strategies for developing scoring models, and also low-level performance measures for which such models are developed, refined and evaluated. We describe examples of companies or bodies that have benefitted from improved credit scoring models, including Prescient Models (a US credit scoring company), Experian and the US Office of the Comptroller of Currency. The group has established a very significant reputation for a wide range of commercially valuable work in this area — to the extent that the group received the major Credit Collections and Risk industry award for Contributions to the Credit Industry in 2012.
Digital Television for All (DTV4All), led by Brunel Wireless Network Group, has raised awareness of the need for standardised access services for TV viewers who require or use subtitles or any other audio-visual aids while watching digital TV programmes. They showed the European Parliament how a TV programme (without a sign language translator) could be delivered via internet with an option to use a sign language translator for those who require the service. They also presented at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Joint Workshop on Accessibility, which led ITU, a specialised agency of the United Nations for digital technologies, to set up a Focus Group on Audiovisual Media Accessibility and to commission the report `Making Television Accessible' (2011).
Since January 2011, the regional public broadcaster (radio/television) of Berlin and Brandenburg in Germany, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), has broadcast the digital TV subtitle setting recommended by DTV4All on Channel 1. Through additional investment, RBB has further enhanced the subtitling service and users can now optimise the sizes of the subtitle font or the sign language translator.
This case study focuses on the research conducted by members of the UoA examining the services offered to service users and carers in secure settings. This includes forensic mental health services and prisons. It has had a significant impact on the development of professional practice in secure settings based on the views, experiences, and needs of service users and carers. It has established service user and carer engagement in research conducted in secure settings. It has also informed service and policy developments in the United Kingdom and internationally.