Leg 2 of the Simpson Associates x Microsoft Local Gov UK Tour is complete — and it was a brilliant day in Newcastle with Data and IT professionals from local authorities across the region.

A few themes that kept coming up in the room are worth sharing more broadly, because they reflect challenges I see consistently across the public sector.

The Use Cases Are There — Prioritisation Is the Problem

Almost every local authority we speak with has a long list of data initiatives they want to pursue. The constraint is rarely ideas — it is prioritisation. Where do you start? How do you communicate value to senior stakeholders? How do you sequence work so early wins build momentum for larger programmes?

This is why I spend a lot of time on my Use Case Value and Prioritisation Framework. It is a structured way to evaluate potential data projects against business value, feasibility, and strategic alignment — and critically, to produce output that non-technical stakeholders can engage with. If you want to know more about how it works, drop me a message.

Communicating Data Projects to Stakeholders

The best data platform in the world does not matter if decision-makers do not understand or trust the outputs. Communicating technical work to a non-technical audience is a skill that the data profession consistently underinvests in.

A few principles I come back to:

• Lead with the outcome, not the technology.
• Use concrete numbers wherever possible (time saved, cost avoided, decisions improved).
• Build a feedback loop — stakeholders who feel heard are far more likely to champion your programme.

Building an Enterprise Data Model for Single View of Child

One of the most impactful use cases we discussed was building a Single View of Child in social care — bringing together data from multiple systems to give practitioners a joined-up picture of a child’s circumstances.

The data modelling challenge here is significant. You are dealing with sensitive data from fragmented source systems, strict governance requirements, and a user base (social workers) who need fast, reliable access — not a complex analytics interface.

Getting the enterprise data model right from the start matters enormously. Retrofitting governance and structure onto an ad hoc data estate is painful and expensive.

Ethical AI in Social Care

Jonny Hoyle gave an excellent presentation on the AI-powered social care case note mining tool that Simpson Associates has supported. The progress it has made is genuinely impressive — and it raised some important questions about how we apply AI responsibly in a sector where the stakes are so high.

The opportunities are real. So are the risks. Ethical AI in social care means transparency about how models make decisions, human oversight in the loop, and a clear process for handling edge cases and errors.

I am looking forward to Leg 3. And yes, I will try to remember to take a coffee photo.