From how governments are using AI to how Whitehall works: Global Government Forum’s top webinars of 2024
Global Government Forum’s regular webinars share insight on how governments around the world are tackling a host of policy issues, from the use of AI to how to structure government to deliver modern public services
This article rounds up some of Global Government Forum’s (GGF) most popular webinars from 2024.
Insight on how governments are using AI
How governments are using AI was a consistent theme examined in our webinars throughout the year.
In March, we looked at how the Canadian government is deploying artificial intelligence. The webinar, which was part of GGF’s AccelerateGOV event programme, focused on how to deploy AI in the public sector. It set out how public servants are taking what one called an “optimistic but cautious” approach to AI, and in-depth insight on one use case in government – the AgPal Program and Service Finder website, which provides information for agricultural businesses on government programmes and services.
The tool was developed by a team from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and won last year’s Public Service Data Challenge.
The Public Service Data Challenge is organised by Global Government Forum in partnership with Natural Resources Canada and Statistics Canada – and entries are open for 2025. For more information and to enter, visit the website.
Other webinars also looked at how governments are using AI to become more efficient.
One session in July looked at how making the most of AI means different things to different organisations. Held with knowledge partner SAP, the event brought together a panel of four experts to discuss how AI is already easing delivery across government, and its potential to do the same across the whole public sector.
Victoria Bew, head of strategy at i.AI (otherwise known as the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence), said the mission of i.AI is to “harness the opportunity of AI to improve lives, generate efficiency savings and deliver better public services”. She added that the UK’s newly elected Labour government wants to use AI primarily to improve lives and deliver better public services.
Bew’s team first gathers ideas, then quickly tests those ideas to see which fall into a category of problems that could be solved through AI. “We then look to move into scaling and deployment,” she said. None of i.AI’s products are in full deployment, Bew added, though two of them are in their ‘beta’ phase. One of these, dubbed ‘Caddy’, is already being used by Citizens Advice and at the time of the webinar was undergoing a randomised controlled trial to ensure it was working effectively to deliver the right outcomes.
Also in the session, Theo Blackwell, London’s chief digital officer, began by saying that it isn’t realistic to talk about how public sector authorities can advance AI without first offering citizens something substantive around digital inclusion. He said London remains very fragmented, and that before the London Office of Technology and Innovation was created, there wasn’t a collective space in which to talk about innovation at scale.
London also continues to run AI trials for use cases such as transport fare evasion to understand times of day and how fare evasion comes about. Councils are also basing pilots on addressing issues such as localised flooding, fly tipping, noise pollution, and damp and mould in social housing.
Towards the end of the year, GGF webinars also looked at turning the potential of AI into outcomes. The How governments can boost productivity with AI: moving from hype to real-world results webinar, held with knowledge partner SAS, discussed the key areas where AI could boost productivity in government organisations, including through automation and generative AI, and how to identify them in your organisation.
In another event, we discussed what is being called ‘quiet AI’, looking at how governments are using artificial intelligence in a way that fits with existing processes and can help public servants become more efficient. It provided practical and implementable insight on how AI can be deployed in processes and back-office functions.
Making best use of data in government
Data is key to making the most of artificial intelligence – but it is not only AI that can be powered by better use of government data. GGF webinars in 2024 also looked at how data can be used to unlock better services, and how to make data-sharing happen.
In May, we brought together public servants from across the UK to discuss how to use data to boost collaborative problem-solving.
As part of our Public Service Data Live conference, the Unlocking insight from data to support decision making webinar, supported by knowledge partner SAS, heard from speakers from across the UK on how data can be used to evaluate delivery and improve services, and how data across departments can be better joined up.
Caroline Payne, data and analytics director of public sector in Northern Europe at SAS, offered an example that she said had arisen from her efforts to help clients access data.
She described the emerging potential of generative AI to find patterns in data within existing datasets, and turn this into synthetic replicas that can be interpreted more easily.
“That’s a use case that we’re starting to see more and more interest in,” she said.
Emma Hyland, head of data and military intelligence (MI), Data and Analysis Team, Illegal Migration Operations Command at the UK Home Office, agreed that AI has promising potential to aid decision-makers. However, she reminded the audience that good data remains the only real basis for good decision-making.
“It sounds really obvious to say this, but MI outputs, visualisations, dashboards, the opportunity of AI, all of that stuff… it’s only as good as the data feeding in.”
She added that data quality is of fundamental importance because of how that data is going to be used downstream.
“It needs a whole-system approach, bottom up, top down, coalescing and investment buy-in at all levels,” she said.
Hyland called data “a golden thread running throughout everything that we do” – a phrase that resonated with the panel.
GGF webinars also discussed how to make data sharing in the public sector happen. Creating systems, policies and cultures where government data can be shared across organisational boundaries can unlock better integration across areas like healthcare, welfare and benefits, and education.
This webinar brought together those involved in making data sharing happen in government to discuss the barriers that still exist – and the steps governments have taken to overcome them.
Anna Bartlett-Avery, head of data ethics and data sharing for the Welsh government, began her opening comments by defining data sharing as “an enabler to something” and explaining that “it’s not an outcome in itself”.
In a similar vein, Steven Burgess, digital and analytics director for the public sector at knowledge partner SAS UK, encouraged the view of data sharing as an opportunity and as a “linkage for the public good”. Best case data sharing is when governments can achieve “collaboration among organisations within government, as well as strong partnerships with external researchers and organisations”, he said.
In her opening remarks, Sue Bateman, the then interim chief data officer for the Central Digital and Data Office, highlighted improvements the Cabinet Office has made since 2020 using national data strategies and data roadmaps. For the first time, both a data ownership model and data maturity assessment have been released and are consistently maintained. These projects aid the larger, more central “front door” data marketplace the Cabinet Office uses “where organisations can come and find, understand and ultimately reuse data”. She added that “the important thing to say about all of that is that it’s been done with and for our community”.
Bartlett-Avery echoed this sentiment and stated that for Wales “data sharing, or fostering a culture of data sharing for the benefit of citizens, is a really key part of our digital strategy”. To incentivise and promote data-sharing networks, panellists agreed that focusing these campaigns on benefitting the public is by far the most influential strategy.
And as Bateman noted, data needs to not only be delivered at the right time and right place, but also in the right way to build an ethical foundation of trust.
Other webinars discussed additional areas of government reform – both using technology and more broadly.
Fitter, happier: A modern approach to civil service productivity looked at how civil services around the world are pursuing efficiency agendas powered by technology.
In this session, a panel of civil service experts discussed the lessons from past government efficiency drives and explored the techniques and agendas most likely to produce big savings over the coming years, with insights shared from Canada and Brazil, and via global reflections from knowledge partner SAS.
The webinar also formed part of a GGF research report published this year: Solving the public services productivity puzzle
Government efficiency was also examined in a session titled How to cut public spending in a way that protects services.
In this webinar, panellists pinpointed data collection and analysis as a major productivity roadblock, particularly when data is not used consistently and effectively. “There’s a very large gap between what is being collected in management of public sector organisations in terms of data, what’s being used in auditing, and what’s then being used in national statistics,” Bart van Ark, professor of productivity studies for the Alliance Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester and managing director of The Productivity Institute, said.
He added that lessons could be learned from healthcare and education, where productivity tends to be measured better. “In the UK, we now measure healthcare output by activities; we adjust them for quality improvements,” he explained. “Whereas in many other public service sectors, we tend to still make a sort of input and output assumption. And then of course, by definition, you don’t have much productivity growth.”
This can be frustrating for public sector leaders as if productivity improvements are noticeable internally but not reflected in national statistics, it draws into question the validity of the plan itself.
“In the public sector, quite often we’re not very clear about the purpose of public sector improvements,” van Ark continued. While governments make it clear that productivity improvements involve managing costs, waste and slack in the system, they don’t recognise how much these developments can impact the general economy.
Christian Weise, head of unit of the National Fiscal Frameworks and Institutions and directorate-general for economic and financial affairs for the European Commission, shared this sentiment and expressed the need for comprehensive interrelationships between sectors.
He said: “If you have a decent education policy, the kids also learn about food and how to eat, for example, they might end up healthier.”
This in turn makes it a health policy issue rooted in education policy, and thus, a holistic approach is key to the productivity of government across departments.
“If you want to achieve anything, you need really comprehensive coverage. You need coordination between the different actors over the different ministries,” said Weise. “You need strong central steering. I know many people don’t like to hear that, but you need somebody who really runs the ship, often the Ministry of Finance.”
Following the UK general election, we also hosted a series of webinars examining how the UK government works. Across four webinars, GGF provided a guide to the corridors of power in the UK.
Each episode provided a guide to a different part of the UK government machine, including the structures and responsibilities in Whitehall, Westminster and beyond, the governance, regulation and culture, and the policy development and delivery process.
The final in the current four-part series looked at How Labour is changing the way Whitehall works to focus on mission delivery.
Thanks to everyone who attended GGF’s webinars in 2024. You can register for Global Government Forum’s upcoming webinars in 2025 here.
About Richard Johnstone
Richard Johnstone is the executive editor of Global Government Forum, where he helps to produce editorial analysis and insight for the title’s audience of public servants around the world. Before joining GGF, he spent nearly five years at UK-based title Civil Service World, latterly as acting editor, and has worked in public policy journalism throughout his career.
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