Modernisation Programme

Local Government Modernisation is the overarching theme under which the Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA) policy development takes place. Since its inception, NILGA has been a driving force in the development of a modernisation agenda for local government.  NILGA actively lobbied to ensure the modernisation of the local government sector was taken forward as part of the Review of Public Administration (RPA).

The Department of Environment has also developed a Strategic Outline Case (SOC) to support the development of the Modernisation Programme for Local Government in parallel to the ongoing work of the RPA.  The purpose of the SOC is to identify the high level benefits and costs associated with the Modernisation Programme, and to develop the necessary information base to allow the sector to assess the next steps in the process.

There are two key objectives to the Modernisation Programme that will ensure the successful transformation of Local Government in Northern Ireland:

• Strengthening the way Councils work by modernising the policy and legislative framework within which the Councils operate by addressing the capacity of members to deliver citizen-centred Local Government services; and
• Improving the way Local Councils work in terms of delivering services in a way that is standardised, simple and provides value for money, thus enabling resources to be released to Councils to improve frontline service delivery.

In the case of the latter, we believe that LocalViewNI will be a fundamental component to delivering services to the citizen in a standardized, simple and intuitive manner. In particular LocalViewNI satisfies the Strategic Vision for a Customer Service Strategy that puts the citizen at the centre of service delivery to ensure an enhanced service experience that exceeds expectations.