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Last updated: 27 March 2009
Communities and Local Government’s (CLG) [External Website] vision is of prosperous and cohesive communities who enable a safe, healthy and sustainable environment for all.
People want to see improvements to their local services such as schools, hospitals, libraries and parks. They want to be able to access the best possible services, shaped around their community’s needs, at times which suit them. CLG’s aim is that every local authority, working collaboratively with its local partners, will be able to radically transform and improve local services and drive forward greater efficiency. This message is incorporated into the 2006 Local Government White Paper and will be taken forward by local authorities (LAs) both through their ongoing work to meet the challenges of CSR 07 and the Service Transformation Agreement.
Customer-centric service delivery
Customer service centres have transformed the way many LAs handle customer contact, while reducing costs. However, this is only part of a customer–centric approach that LAs are taking to improve how they redesign services in partnership with their local public sector partners, in order to better meet the needs of their local communities and deliver their services to these shared customers, more cost effectively.
Clearer understanding of local communities’ needs
LAs are, by definition, close to the communities they serve. They are good at consultation with people, gathering data on customers and using this information on single issues or to input into the design of a specific service. However, only a few LAs exploit the potential of customer insight tools (e.g. lifestyle profiling) used routinely across the private sector to help form a coherent, holistic view of their customers, their needs and preferences, and to develop a strategic and systematic approach to how services are designed and delivered across the council and in partnership with local public sector partners.
Within the Business Improvement Package (BIP), there is support for LAs in getting to know their customers better (customer insight) and understanding the lifestyle preferences of particular groups of people (customer segmentation).
Delivering real service transformation for citizens requires pace, passion, commitment and the sort of innovation being demonstrated the length and breadth of local government, as typified by just a few of the growing number of innovative local initiatives.
Front Office Shared Services
Innovative service transformation was highlighted through the Front Office Shared Services (FOSS) programme which highlighted a number of LAs’ work to join up how they design and deliver services to better meet the needs of local citizens. These 16 case studies demonstrate the joint approach taken by the LA and their local public sector partners to deliver better access to services for their shared customers, using existing contact centres and one–stop–shop operations, websites, mobile working and joint teams.
Mobile working for better social care
The London Borough of Havering has introduced a flexible, mobile working system that has transformed the way practitioners work.Working closely with neighbouring Barking & Dagenham and the Primary Care Trust, and using a Mobile Social Care solution and tablet PCs, over 80 practitioners have instant access to the social care database.
Social care staff can now carry out their assessments wherever they need to be done, whether it is in the client’s home or in hospital, enabling a more efficient and effective way of working. Practitioners arrange their working day around their clients’ needs, providing a better and more responsive service to local people. The waiting time target for assessments improved from 60.5% in 2004/05 to 84% in 2006/07.
E–enabling rural services
With around 75% of the local population having internet/email access, South Norfolk District Council has championed a move from phone to e–channels. Phone calls have reduced by 25% over the last 18 months (over 100,000 fewer calls per year) – the channel split is now 40% phone calls and 60% online. As a result, the local online e–Planning system is now used more than 10,000 times per month and supports the estimated 3,000 planning applications the council has to deal with each year.
Supporting customers at risk
In Salford City Council, call centre operators can now identify and actively target customers in need through its new Case Record Management system. Under these arrangements, Fire Risk Assessments are carried out on behalf of the Fire Service and ’at risk’ groups have been successfully targeted, resulting in over 1,200 electronic referrals to the Fire Service for an assessment and the installation of free smoke alarms.
Easier access to services
The easy@york programme is transforming the way York City Council delivers local services.With an anticipated 2.5 million customer transactions in the first year of operation, the service has been live since February 2007 and has seen efficiencies of £307,000 delivered already. As a result of this simplification of customer access, 72% of Revenues transactions are now handled solely at point of customer contact, which has resulted in a reduction in back–office processing time.
Enabling staff to put the Customer First
Kennet District Council’s Customer First project developed from the Council’s e–government programme as a way of ensuring that local services are delivered in a customerfocused way. The project has implemented a Contact Centre and a One–Stop Shop with all the associated supporting technology, processes and staff training. As a result, the new improved case and contact handling has enabled the Council staff to achieve a 95% resolution rate on an average of the 12,000 contacts received each month.
Highlighting and sharing good practice
Systematic capture and highlighting of innovative good practice already developed by Local Authorities helps the sector share this effectively and improves the customer experience of local public services. CLG works with the local government family both through national and regional events and networks to capture and share good practice. In addition to the Front Office Shared Services (FOSS) programme, CLG supports the Beacon scheme in highlighting good practice developed to transform services, and provides advice and toolkits to assist Local Authorities develop shared services through the Business Improvement Package.
CLG is also working with local government through the Local Government Delivery Council (LGDC) to ensure that work on service transformation across the sector is co–ordinated and that there is good communication with central government, as well as joint work on key national projects to maximise the benefits for all public sector customers.
FiReControl:
Each of the 46 Fire and Rescue Authorities currently has its own control room to deploy appliances to incidents. The FiReControl [External website] project has seen investment by CLG of over £365 million to move to an integrated network of nine ’resilient’ regional control centres – if one fails, another in the network can take over its functions.
This is supported by Firelink [External website], which will provide all fire and rescue services with a new, resilient, wide–area radio system, enabling them to talk to each other on the same system, as well as to other emergency services. Following major capital and project management investment by CLG, Firelink brings fire and rescue service main radio systems into the 21st century – installing radio terminals, global positioning systems and mobile data terminals in fire vehicles – with the levels of resilience and interoperability.
Communities and Local Government continue to support initiatives focused on vulnerable citizens to enhance their capability to access local government services.
Sunderland City Council, announced as the winner of the Government’s Digital Challenge (Link to Digital Challenge) competition in May 2007, is taking forward plans to deliver a digitally–enabled community that will benefit some of the most vulnerable and socially excluded people in the area.
The Digital Challenge saw cities, towns and regions outline their visions for a digitally–enabled society designed to better meet the needs of local communities and citizens. Sunderland and the nine other authorities who were finalists in the competition have now formed the “DC–10” [External website] who, in partnership with industry and the third sector, are developing key initiatives which will drive forward the use of technologies to better meet the needs of local communities and individual citizens.
Government Connect [External website] is building a secure network for English LAs to share data and information securely, both between authorities and between them and central government. Services can be tailored to suit an individual citizen’s needs, enabling the transformation of services. Government Connect is now rolling out a secure network and is working closely with DWP, DCSF, HMRC and LAs to pilot transformational government services such as Free School Meals registration and Tell Us Once.
Councils will have to challenge traditional methods of delivery to deliver the transformed services and value for money that communities want. This means councils and other public bodies working together to overcome administrative boundaries that sometimes act as a barrier to service transformation. It means sharing assets, systems, data, skills and knowledge more effectively, and keeping all council activity under review to drive out waste.