Plans to invest in improved data and artificial intelligence to help Somerset Council provide better services and reduce costs have been approved.
Somerset Council’s Executive today (Wednesday, 1 October) agreed to invest £1.56 million in digital innovations as part of its ongoing Inspiring Innovation transformation programme.
The investment will predominantly fund the expansion of the Council’s AI and Data Team by creating 15 new roles, providing local employment opportunities in this growing sector and strengthening it’s ability to make the most of the opportunities provided by better use of Data and AI.
One of the key initiatives under these proposals is to create trusted ‘single views’ of residents, bringing together data held by different parts of the Council. This will help identify earlier when support is needed—enabling the Council to intervene before anyone reaches crisis point.
Improving data and AI will be a key enabler for the Council’s Inspiring Innovation Transformation Programme. This programme will build on the work the Council has undertaken over the past 5 years, including the creation of Transform Family View, which brings together safeguarding information from Somerset Council, schools and partner organisations, helping professionals to better understand and respond to the needs of children and young people.
Initial work has identified that improved use of data in areas ranging from employment and debt collection to health and domestic abuse could help the Council detect individuals and families at risk of homelessness much earlier. This would then enable targeted support to be put in place sooner. Estimates suggest that this could prevent up to 256 families being made homeless each year.
Cllr Theo Butt Philip, Lead Member for Transformation, Human Resources and Localities, said:
With demand and costs for services continuing to rise, we know we need to radically rethink how we operate to put more focus on prevention.
This investment will act as a key enabler for our transformation programme, providing much improved data and linking with the latest in artificial intelligence to help us do things differently and do things better.
This is a long-term investment to build capability across the whole Council, to help us to make the most of the opportunities provided by better use of data and AI, enabling us to deliver better outcomes for the people and communities of Somerset.
The investment in this programme will be funded by capital funding already set aside for transformation work – this is one-off funding which cannot be used to pay for everyday services or running costs.
Further details are in the decision papers which can be found via the Council’s Agenda and decisions page for the Executive meeting on Wednesday, 1 October, 2025.
