Workshop session one (12.00 - 13.00)

a. Cumbria County Council – Local Link
Chair - Ernest Opuni
Local Authority lead - Sara Turnbull, Communications and Customer Service Manager, Cumbria County Council

Cumbria is the second largest local authority area in England. The county’s geography has implications for accessibility. Cumbria County Council (CCC) together with the six district councils, the Lake District National Park authority, the Police and other public and not for profit organisations including Cumbria Primary Care Trust (CPCT) are working together to improve public access to services in Cumbria. They have established a programme to identify and develop a number of Local Links bringing together a range of public services for these local communities.

Local Links is a three-year programme working towards opening 28 face-to-face service delivery points across the county. Two links have been opened so far at Wigton in partnership with Allerdale Borough Council (ABC) and Alston with Eden District Council (EDC). All centres are developed using extensive community consultation and undergo equalities assessments.

The partners involved in the programme have agreed at strategic level, shared objectives and priority outcomes. A countywide managers group with a clear remit and delegated decision making has been established. Both county and district staff receive joint customer service training sessions. County Council library staff have been transferred to Eden District Council who now provide library services at the Local Links in Alston through a service level agreement.

The partnership approach has allowed Local Links to access funding unavailable to LAs on their own such as the Big Lottery Fund Community Assets Grant.

b. Cardiff City Council - Consumer Direct Wales
Chair - Becca Singh
Local Authority lead - Isabelle Bignall, Head of Partnerships and Citizen Centre Services at Cardiff Council

Consumer Direct Wales (CDW) is a national online consumer advice and information service for all of Wales. It is funded by the Office of Fair Trading and run by Cardiff City Council in partnership with all 22 Welsh local authorities, Trading standards and other existing consumer advisory bodies such as Community Legal Service Direct. CDW offers practical consumer advice on a range of matters as the first point of call for consumers and where further help is required acting as a gateway to other local authority services.

Each council has a service level agreement with CDW that is tailored to meet specific local circumstances. The project team spent considerable time engaging partners, developing common processes to enable effective hand over between the CDW and 22 back offices. The project was run as a tender exercise that would attract external funding, which helped to focus partnership discussions upon achieving a specific objective within a tight timescale.

Since its launch in September 2004 CDW has helped 300,000 consumers in Wales, resolving 80 percent of all customer enquiries on the first call and saving an estimated £11.5 million. As well as giving customers an instant response where previously they may have waited up to two days for a call back it has freed up specialist staff to concentrate upon more complex questions as well as targeting their efforts at resolving the issues and complaints raised.

c. Free School Meals
Chair - Mike Short
Local Authority lead - Emma Shears, Marketing and Communications Lead, Gateway to Educational Services, Hertfordshire County Council

The Free School Meals (FSM) case study outlines the work a number of local authorities including Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, Hertfordshire County Council, Northampton City Council, Warwickshire County Council and Bournemouth Borough Council have done to develop a more streamlined process of identifying eligibility for Free School Meals. The current paper based process to apply and be assessed for free school meals can typically take several weeks.

These local authorities have developed different models which enable an assessment to be made in a matter of hours. All are using an IT based approach to access pre-existing information regarding the family’s current benefits to help assess the children’s eligibility more efficiently and effectively.

This process is more cost effective than a paper based process and means those children who are entitled to free school meals, receive them sooner. Related benefits such as school clothing grants and travel passes can also be applied for at the same time. Renewals can also be checked more efficiently, including carrying on the service when children change schools.

The FSM project helps demonstrate that citizens can be empowered and the processes to deliver a service made more efficient, by central and local government sharing information and working together. The improved speed of providing free school meals makes a major contribution to the National Indicator targets related to health inequalities and achieving efficiencies.

d. London Borough of Greenwich
Chair - Paul Conneely

Greenwich council’s Modernisation Programme was established in 2005 to deliver a £800 million programme of investment across a range of areas. Their remit was diverse and included ten projects of strategic importance. Among the most significant was the development of an integrated front office approach to service delivery, supported by major investment in the council’s ICT infrastructure.

Central to their strategy was ensuring the council’s property portfolio was fit for purpose. This included the commitment to build three major service centres at Eltham, Woolwich and Greenwich. The principle of co-located provision is key to the modernised services at these centres. Integrated front offices will act as a one-stop shop able to deal efficiently and effectively with a full range of enquiries. These front offices will be situated alongside world-class leisure facilities, brand new libraries, and office space for partnership organisations.