This document summarises the outcome of the campaign to raise awareness and encourage the use of online services provided by local authorities which was launched in May 2006. The campaign was targeted at existing internet users, the group most able to make use of the 16 types of services available online. Advertising was placed in national media for the first month, followed by a month in regional media, before individual councils continued with local campaigns.Pre-and post-campaign research confirmed an increase in awareness of council services in general and in those available online. Respondents also demonstrated a greater intention to make use of these services and a significant number took action as a result of the campaign. At the same time an online advertising campaign on websites and search engines generated 225m page impressions and 860,000 click-through visits into the campaign web. During the national and regional phases of the campaign the mycouncil domain and other local government pages of the Directgov website attracted an estimated 1.3 million visits, 2/3rds of which were generated by the online campaign alone. Traffic volumes into these sites were up markedly, by 32% in May compared to the previous month.
FRAMEWORK WILL HELP CREATE MORE ACTIVE CITIZENS
A new manual has been issued to help people learn how to make a difference to the communities in which they live. The Take Part Framework has been designed to support the proposals set out in the recent Local Government White Paper, which included placing a duty on local authorities to encourage residents to be involved in the decision making process.
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PUBLIC SECTOR TOLD TO PLAY PART IN CUTTING CARBON EMISSIONS
Public sector bodies have been told they need to become more energy efficient to help combat the effects of climate change. The Environment Secretary, David Miliband, called on the sector and on big commercial organisations to do their bit when he launched a consultation on cost-effective ways to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas levels. He told the Environmental Industries Commission that large non-energy intensive organisations had to play a part in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
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