Reimagining London’s Public Services with Tech, Data & Innovation at the IET
On Wednesday 11th September, as the digital lead for Local Government at Starfish Search, Rosalind Lambert had the pleasure of attending Reimagining London’s Public Services with Tech, Data & Innovation at the IET. It was an incredible event with Eddie Copeland, Director at LOTI, as key speaker.
Eddie gave a great lecture on the future of Local Government and how using data and technology to innovate we can really improve lives of our communities, as long as the people, the users, are taken along on this journey. Tech is not just a waving a magical wand and implementing a new system, especially where digital poverty exists. We need to be able to firstly lift our communities out digital poverty before innovation can truly happen. Additionally, it is important that Borough’s work together, sharing ideas, data, costs and innovations as the solutions affect all Londoner’s as relatively few citizens live and work in one Borough and this is where LOTI has its maximum impact.
That said, innovation and the art of imagination of what we can do has started to have positive returns. The South London Partnership is using IOT sensors for preventative measures for flooding, RBKC are using generative AI to assess and prioritise resident spotted graffiti for cleaning, Brent is starting to use AI to write up case notes in social care freeing up valuable time, and Harrow is using a visual AI tool to reconcile advertising hoardings with business rates, resulting in capturing lost revenue. Outside of London Swindon has reduced its translation costs by 99% through using Google Translate and has increased public engagement by being able to communicate in citizen’s native language.
Against a background of cost cutting there are some great ideas and innovations taking place not only in the capital with this month Sunderland City Council’s Digital Inclusion Programme winning the Community Improvement Award at the Connected Britain Awards. Sunderland have helped over 200,000 residents’ access vital digital services and have doubled full-fibre connectivity across Sunderland in just 12 months. Long may it continue.
Should you wish to have a chat about your digital transformation journey, please contact the team at info@starfishsearch.com.
Webinar Recap: Navigating Recruitment in the AI Age with PPMA
Starfish Search recently partnered with the Public Services People Managers Association (PPMA) to deliver a timely and thought-provoking webinar: “Navigating Recruitment in the AI Age.” Our own Sunita Patel was joined by Jason Makepeace from GovCats to explore how artificial intelligence is already reshaping recruitment, leadership, and workforce planning across the public sector. If you missed the session, the full webinar is available to watch here.
Lorraine Payne Named Among Top 10 Interim Consultants in the 2025 IIM Awards
We are incredibly proud to share that Lorraine Payne, Partner at Starfish Search, has once again been recognised by the Institute of Interim Management (IIM) as one of the UK’s top interim consultants, securing a place in the Top 10 for 2025. This honour, based entirely on feedback from interim managers themselves, celebrates the individual consultants who go beyond the brief — those who listen carefully, understand deeply, and deliver consistently for the interims and organisations they support.
Top Talent: Regeneration and Growth
The growth and infrastructure agenda remains central to the government’s mission, and local authorities across the country are key drivers.
ACCREDITATIONS
ESPO is a public sector owned professional buying organisation (PBO), specialising in providing a wide range of goods and services to the public sector for over 40 years. Starfish Search has been awarded a place on ESPO’s Strategic HR Services framework (3S). Services we offer under the framework include: Lot 1, Executive and Managerial Interim Recruitment Lot 2, Executive and Managerial Permanent Recruitment.
Starfish are proud to be certified Disability Confident Committed. This scheme provides employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace.
Crown Commercial Service supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. In 2020/21, CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits equal to £2.04bn - supporting world-class public services that offer best value for taxpayers. Starfish Search has been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s Executive and Non-Executive recruitment. Services we offer under the framework include: Lot 3 - Non-Executive and Public Appointments.
Bloom, launched in 2012 is the UK’s leading marketplace for professional services. They provide an end-to-end solution for the procurement, contract management and payment of all professional services, via the compliant NEPRO³ framework. Their public sector clients have access to 20 professional services categories and over 4500 accredited suppliers. Bloom provides swift routes to market via either direct award or mini competition. Starfish is an accredited supplier to BLOOM; our services can be accessed via this framework - Executive and Non-Executive Search and Interim Management.
Join the starfish team
We hire people who bring insight, integrity and ambition to their work. If you’re ready to contribute to shaping the future of leadership and you want to explore our current opportunities please get in touch.
