Archives for December 2007

STUDY SHOWS GROWTH IN USE OF COUNCIL WEBSITES

Headlines, PublicNet: 21 December, 2007

Council websites now attract almost as many visitors as the site run by the supermarket chain Tesco. Research from the Central Office of Information says the number of ‘hits’ on local authority web pages has risen following the successful ‘Connect to Your Council’ publicity campaign

The study also shows that the number of people making personal visits to council offices has dropped by a quarter since the beginning of the advertising drive. At the same time the number of enquiries made by telephone has also fallen by 16 per cent and queries received by letter are down by 15 per cent.

The Internet access figures were taken from Hitwise in August this year and showed that the 0.25 per cent market share of UK web traffic for local government sites was only marginally below the 0.26 per cent recorded for Tesco during the period of the publicity campaign activity.

Parmjit Dhanda, the Minister for Local E-Government, said the research made it clear that many local residents welcomed the opportunity to put themselves in charge of how, when and where they accessed their council services. “Our independent survey shows that, in a dramatically growing market, local authority websites are maintaining a consistent share of traffic. This is a marked achievement that confirms the potential of local e-government for delivering an efficient and responsive service culture that is centred on the needs of customers,” he said.

The ‘Connect to your Council’ campaign was launched in May 2006 and will run until March next year. People visiting the campaign website can simply enter their post code, town or street name, to be directed to the relevant service page of their council’s website.
The campaign has won both newspaper and radio advertising awards.

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DORSET LEADS THE WAY IN DELIVERING SATISFACTION

Headlines, PublicNet: 21 December, 2007

Dorset County Council has the most satisfied customers in the country, according to a new corporate assessment report published today by the Audit Commission. It finds that local people’s overall satisfaction with the council has improved over the past three years and the authority now has the highest rating of any county council.

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PROMOTING USER INVOLVEMENT IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

Features, PublicNet: 21 December, 2007

By Fran Branfield and Peter Beresford.

Involving users in the health and social care services they receive is a popular idea, but its value is being questioned. The service providers have begun to ask what evidence there is that it improves services. Users of services have raised the issue of what they are actually able to achieve by their involvement and to question the usefulness of getting involved. The authors explore reasons why it is not working well and suggest how greater involvement could deliver significant results.

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CONSUMER GROUP SAYS COUNCILS REJECT TOO MANY CHALLENGES TO PARKING FINES

Headlines, PublicNet: 20 December, 2007

Some local councils are accused today of rejecting too many challenges to the parking fines they impose. An article in the January 2008 issue of ‘Which?’ magazine says, though, that the number of fines overturned at the appeal stage, which is often uncontested by the authority, means it is worth drivers persevering if their initial challenge is turned down.

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‘MORE INVITING’ FIRE STATIONS COULD HELP CUT DEATHS

Headlines, PublicNet: 20 December, 2007

New-style fire stations which are more open and inviting, as well as environmentally friendly, can play a part in driving down the number of deaths in fires, according to new guidance on how the buildings are designed. The Fire Minister, Parmjit Dhanda, said engagement with the public was a vital part of continuing to cut the number of fatalities.

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TECHNOLOGY AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF SOCIAL PROTECTION

Book News, PublicNet: 20 December, 2007

This report from Kable says that the existing system is struggling to deliver complex programmes of benefits and care and that the situation is made more difficult by the diversity of providers.

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COUNCIL CHIEF EXECUTIVE TO HEAD HOMES AGENCY

Headlines, PublicNet: 19 December, 2007

An experienced senior figure from Local Government has been named as the first head of the new Homes and Communities Agency, which will bring together the existing work of English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation and some delivery functions from the Department of Communities and Local Government. He is Sir Bob Kerslake, who is currently Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council.

Sir Bob is expected to move to his new job in March and will be responsible initially for overseeing the development and implementation of the agency, becoming its first Chief Executive from April 1st 2009, when it becomes operational. The Agency has been established to deliver Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s promise of three million new homes by 2020.

Sir Bob , who has also served as Treasurer and then Chief Executive of the London Borough of Hounslow and as Assistant Director of the Inner London Education Authority, said, he was delighted to be taking on a uniquely challenging and demanding post. “It is vitally important that everyone has access to a decent home at a price they can afford, in a place where they want to live and work, and I am looking forward to leading the Homes and Communities Agency to make this a reality,” he added.

The Housing and Planning Minister, Yvette Cooper, said the HCA was vital to delivering the new homes the country needed and Sir Bob had the skills, experience and leadership the agency needed. “His knowledge of local government will be particularly valuable in his new role,” she said.

Paying tribute to Sir Bob’s Decade of leadership in Sheffield , the leader of the city council, Jan Wilson, said it was no surprise that he would be playing a key role on the national stage. “I have worked closely with Bob for seven of the ten years he’s been in Sheffield, and have witnessed at first hand his skill, drive, and determination to achieve the very best for both the Council and the city,” Councillor Wilson added.

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CONSULATION BEGINS ON FAITH GROUPS’ ROLE IN COMMUNITIES

Headlines, PublicNet: 19 December, 2007

A consultation has been launched to look at how Government can help faith groups to engage with their local communities and with one another. “Face-to-Face and Side-by-Side” has been drawn up to look what is already being done and at what support might be given to facilitate more inter-faith dialogue and activity so faith groups can make a positive difference in the wider community.

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VALUE AND EVALUATION

Abstracts, PublicNet: 19 December, 2007

This report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development highlights how organisations are developing a range of different methods to assess the value of learning. Learning, training and development can only be perceived as successful if organisational decision-makers believe it delivers value. Because training is about people development, it needs to take into account not just hard quantitative data but also more subjective qualitative measures.

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PLANNING STATEMENT SETS OUT NEW RULES ON CUTTING CARBON EMISSIONS

Headlines, PublicNet: 18 December, 2007

The possibility of community power schemes and local renewable energy supplies have moved a step closer with changes to the planning system so that councils will be expected to provide for such projects. The responsibility is contained in a new Planning Policy Statement on climate change.

The new guidance means planners will have to promote green growth. At the same time a consultation has been launched on new planning rules for economic growth. Those would mean local authorities having to give greater flexibility in their plans to make it possible for businesses to succeed and create jobs. They would have to give more consideration to regeneration and identify sites that could be used in various ways if the needs of any business should change.

The Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper, said the Government was clear that the planning system should do more to support jobs and deliver higher environmental standards at the same time. She said publishing the climate change statement alongside the draft plans for economic development underlined the idea that action on climate change had to run side by side with economic growth and more new homes.

The new planning rules will mean councils and developers must consider ideas such as solar panels, wind turbines or heat pumps to generate energy from the sites of new developments. They will also have to study the potential for connecting developments to neighbouring community heating and power schemes to serve an entire local community.

Meanwhile a report from the UK Green Building Council has called for new commercial buildings to move towards achieving zero carbon. The report, which was commissioned by Yvette Cooper, says industry should be set a timetable for achieving zero carbon. Commercial buildings currently account for 18 per cent of emissions.

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