Leadership and Skills are Key to Better Digital Public Services

Digital is reshaping how public services are designed and delivered. While technology is a key part of this, the real driver lies in leadership, collaboration and skills.

Successful digital public services are not just about adopting the latest software – that’s the easy part. Instead, they require leadership that understands how to integrate digital expertise with policy knowledge and, crucially, with the needs of service users.

The Centre for Digital Public Services (CDPS) was set up by the Welsh Government as one of the tools to deliver the digital strategy for Wales. Our role is to sit alongside public sector organisations across Wales, helping them understand how to make online services work better for the people who use them. The digital strategy itself is ambitious and forward-looking, but to succeed, it needs the right skills, structures and leadership in place.

What do we mean by ‘digital' in a public sector context? It is easy to think of digital as just technology – buying new systems or moving services online. But the real transformation comes when we design services around users. A well-designed digital service should feel seamless. Think of renewing a driving licence online, where departments have worked together behind the scenes to make the process easy and intuitive. Compare that with a poorly designed online form where 90% of users fail to complete their application because the language doesn’t make sense to them. The difference is not just technology – it is design of the service around the real users and having the right skills and the leadership to do things differently.

For digital public services to work effectively, we need digital experts working alongside policy experts. Neither can deliver change alone. Policy teams understand the objectives of public services, but without digital specialists, they risk designing services that do not work for users. Likewise, digital teams cannot make services effective without understanding the policies behind them. The key is bringing these groups together and ensuring that service users are directly involved in shaping what is delivered.

This requires specific skills. User-centred design is an essential discipline in digital service development, but it has traditionally been undervalued. In Wales, we have taken an important step by creating the UK’s first formal qualification in user-centred design, working with Gower College. The aim is to build a pipeline of skilled professionals who can ensure that public services are designed with the user in mind from the outset.

But addressing the skills gap requires more than new qualifications. Digital specialists are in demand worldwide, and they can work anywhere. Competing on salary alone is difficult, but Wales has a compelling story to tell. The Welsh digital strategy is ambitious and well thought out. It is about using digital to deliver better public services, improve people’s lives and make government work more efficiently. This is a positive mission that attracts talented people who want to be part of something meaningful.

We are already seeing progress. Organisations such as Caerphilly County Borough Council are taking bold steps to bring in digital skills and rethink how they deliver services. More organisations need to follow their lead. This is not just about hiring digital specialists – it is about leadership. Public sector leaders must be equipped to make informed decisions about digital transformation. They need to understand what good digital service design looks like and how to structure teams that bring together digital expertise, policy knowledge and user input.

Standards also play a critical role. In Wales, we have a digital service standard that provides a framework for how services should be designed. This includes ensuring services are bilingual, meet the goals of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, and are accessible to everyone – including those who are not online. But standards alone are not enough. Organisations need support to implement them properly, ensuring that public services are truly inclusive and meet the needs of all users.

Ultimately, digital transformation in the public sector is about leadership and culture as much as it is about technology. Wales has a strong foundation to build on, with a clear strategy and a growing community of digital specialists committed to improving public services. By investing in skills, fostering collaboration and ensuring that digital and policy teams work together, we can create public services that are not just online, but genuinely effective for the people who rely on them.