The bobby on the bike is making a comeback as police forces ditch their panda cars and get peddling. Constabularies nationwide are fighting crime and costs with cycles.
The police aren’t alone, increasingly emergency services are answering the call of the cycle. And they are buying them at Halfords.
Halfords the UK’s leading retailer of leisure and family bikes has seen a significant increase in the sale of cycles especially designed for the emergency services.
-Fighting crime means being mobile, and perhaps surprisingly it’s bikes not cars that are proving an increasingly effective weapon, says Clair Allen, who heads up the Halfords 999 bikes initiative. -In many instances bikes are the most cost-effective, efficient and environmentally friendly way of getting officers to the scene.
Most UK police forces now include cycle squads and, in addition to standard patrol work, officers are successfully targeting shoplifting, street crime and even drug trafficking.
North Yorkshire Police introduced a mountain bike team in 2001 and specially trained officers have used Halfords cycles to great effect.
PC Ed Rogerson of the Harrogate Safer Neighbourhood Team said: -The bikes certainly cut response times and I’m regularly first on the scene at incidents because I can use alleyways and back streets to respond quickly. You have the added bonus of stealth.
The Association of Chief Police Officers added: -ACPOS fully supports the use of police mountain bicycles which provide an additional patrolling option to supplement patrols on foot and using police vehicles. As well as the environmental benefits, officers can negotiate town and city centres quickly allowing a faster response to incidents than on foot.
Crime isn’t the only emergency being tackled from a saddle. Firemen in several London boroughs, West Midlands, Devon and Somerset and Greater Manchester are now cycling.
West Midlands Fire Service turned to Halfords when they formed a Community Cycle Team to tackle persistent arson attacks in hot-spots across the region. Within just three months the number of incidents in the trial areas dropped by more than 85 per cent, saving £195K.
The scheme was hailed as a ‘financially resounding success’, which also achieved a ‘massive reduction in carbon emissions’ and helped ‘win the confidence of young people within the target areas.’
Paramedics are also switching to cycles, the London Ambulance Service employs paramedics on cycles at all of Heathrow’s five terminals, dealing with an average of 400 emergency calls a month. Paramedics on bikes are to be used on site for London’s 2012 Olympics.
A new library at King Cross, Halifax, is rapidly heading towards completion by William Birch & Sons and its design has been shaped by the local community who will be using it.
Built with funding from the BIG Lottery Community Libraries Fund and Calderdale Council, the library, which replaces the old one at King Cross is being built on sustainable principles, and has been designed to maximise natural light, with extensive glass windows to two sides.
The new facility is intended to attract those who do not currently use libraries, as well as meeting the needs of existing users. Before it was designed, residents were asked what they wanted to see in the new library, and feedback included shelving that can be rolled away to offer space for other activities; a children’s area; exhibition and meeting spaces; advice sessions and reading groups; quiet areas; wi-fi access; and a cafe with newspapers.
Operations and customer services manager at Calderdale Council Carole Heaton said: -This library will be unique in that local residents have been consulted at every stage of its development. As a result, it directly reflects their wishes and needs. Library staff are very excited about the opening in summer 2010.
A key feature will be a garden area for reading, listening and reflection. A time capsule prepared by local primary schoolchildren has already been buried in the foundations of the new building.
Paul Goyea is construction director at William Birch & Sons. He commented that the company had in the past and also on current projects enjoyed the benefits, along with clients and their consultants, of knowing that the local community has had such a positive input into the building outcome: -In particular it engenders a sense of ownership and responsibility in local people to ensure the delivery of the building is a success and meets most of, if not all, the community’s needs, he said.
Sustainable Building
William Birch is committed to sustainable building methods, and is a member of the Considerate Constructors Scheme. The company won a Sustainability Award in 2006 and has just achieved a BREAAM rating of ‘excellent’ for its construction work at Harlow Carr’s new Learning Centre in Harrogate; the latter has recently been recognised by an industry national award.
Founded in 1874 and still family-owned, William Birch & Sons employs around 100 people with a turnover in the region of £23 million. The company is based in York, with additional offices in Leeds.
Britain’s largest land manager, the Forestry Commission, has awarded Fujitsu a new five-year contract to maintain all of its ICT hardware across the Commission in England, Scotland and Wales. Fujitsu originally won the six-year contract to run the Forestry Commission’s IT in 2003. The new contract was won in a competitive tender through the Catalist framework.
Fujitsu will be responsible for maintaining the Commission’s whole ICT investment including storage, servers, and its data centre in Edinburgh. Coupled with this, Fujitsu will be maintaining IT equipment for 2,700 users across 100 distributed offices and depots, including handheld devices, rugged laptops, desktops, printers and plotters.
This new contract broadens the scope of the original contract and requires Fujitsu both to meet improved services targets and to reduce the overall annual maintenance budget. As well as maintaining the hardware for the Commission, Fujitsu will be undertaking installation, testing, refresh, upgrade and disposal work on a call-off basis along with a number of technical consultancy services. The contract is worth £1m.
David Felstead, Forestry Commission CIO, said: “We are delighted to re-appoint Fujitsu as our hardware maintenance partners. This five year contract allows us to continue to provide an excellent service to our internal customers whist tackling costs as part of our need to reduce expenditure across the business. We are convinced this continuing partnership will allow us to achieve all of our improved service and commercial objectives.”
Commenting on the contract, Alastair Millar, service delivery manager at Fujitsu UK and Ireland said: “The Forestry Commission IT estate is a complex one, not only because of the nature of the conditions the Commission often works in, but also because of the breadth of work it is responsible for, whether that be research, commercial timber production, sustainability programmes and forestry policy as well as learning and recreation.
This breadth makes it a fascinating organisation to work with as every IT users’ needs are different and varied. We look forward to continuing the good work we have undertaken with the Forestry Commission since 2003 and helping support them in the outstanding work they are doing in sustaining the forestry resource for the future.”
The hardware estate comprises over 2,000 desktop devices and a further 1,000 PDA’s printers and other equipment.
Key facts about Forestry Commission:
– Cares for 827,000 hectares of sustainably managed woods and forests – that’s more than 1.4 billion trees
– Plants more than 17 million trees every year
– Employs more 3,000 people – most of them in rural areas
– Produces more than 5 million tonnes of timber every year. That is almost 44% of UK wood production or 300 forty-tonne truckloads of timber every day
– Welcomes more than 50 million visitors every year
– Provides 2,600 km of cycle trails
– Has 55 visitor centres, almost 500 car parks, and 155 easy access trails
– Provides 109 forest classrooms or educational facilities
– Maintains 24,000 km of forest roads – seven times the total amount of motorway in Britain. If it were possible to put them together, they would stretch more than halfway around the world
– Welcomes more than 100,000 per year to our concerts in the forest
– Maintains more than 2,300 bridges
– Helped expand Britain’s woodlands by an area more than three times the size of greater London in the last 20 years
DVD 2010, Defence Equipment & Support’s (DE&S) stakeholder event for the land and supply chain communities in the defence sector, will take place on June 23 and 24, at Millbrook, Bedfordshire.
A pivotal date in the defence diary, the event is centred on DE&S project teams who deliver vital equipment to the frontline and attracts members of the defence acquisition and military personnel communities as well as industry organisations for two days of informal discussion and briefings.
During the event, visitors can see firsthand new products and equipment displays from DE&S’s attending teams, which have increased to twenty in 2010. DVD’s main theme this year is Soldier Systems, focusing on personal kit and the future role of the infantry. In fact, this year’s event welcomes teams from the Individual Capability Group and Manoeuvre Support Team for the first time, to present and discuss equipment designed to improve the safety and capabilities of the dismounted soldier on operation.
DVD will also see demonstrations of vehicles, accommodation solutions and food, in addition to clothing, medical supplies and test equipment. Furthermore, Millbrook’s extensive 700 acre facility offers an ideal setting for participants to understand and experience the capabilities of equipment in an interactive environment.
Chief of Defence Materiel, General Sir Kevin O’Donoghue, said: -Defence’s main effort is the operation in Afghanistan and no parts of DE&S contribute more obviously to that campaign than the Land Equipment and Joint Support Chain represented at DVD.
-DVD is an essential part of our support to current operations as it brings the MoD customer and industry supplier together in a way that is just not possible in an office environment. The exchange of ideas which this event generates will enable us to continue providing the best possible equipment and support to our armed forces. DVD is a unique and important part of the defence calendar and I anticipate another valuable event this year.”
The event provides an informal opportunity for key stakeholders to meet each other, as well as discuss and attend forums about the latest technologies, support services and current priorities. Participating organisations at DVD also utilise the opportunity of direct communication with the armed forces community in order to gain feedback in the quest on new product development.
To find further information about DVD 2010, visit the official website at www.theevent.co.uk
The promotion of best practice, training and sustainability are key objectives for Stephen Hodgson in his new role as head of the UK’s building preservation industry, the Property Care Association (PCA).
Noted for its technical expertise, the PCA represents the UK’s damp control, timber preservation, structural waterproofing, structural repair and flood recovery sectors.
Based at Huntingdon, the PCA is also a major educational provider, delivering training that is varied in content for property professionals.
Formed from the British Wood Preserving and Damp-proofing Association (BWPDA), which was founded in 1929, the trade body became known as the Property Care Association in 2006, to reflect its expansion into markets – including structural waterproofing, structural repair and flood recovery.
A qualified surveyor, Stephen – who lives in Leeds – has had a career spanning 10 years in the BWPDA and the PCA, including roles as technical officer and deputy director, before being promoted to this new role.
Stephen said: -Good advice and quality work, delivered by people that can be trusted and who understand and care about buildings and clients, has been at the heart of the Association’s success for many years.
-A key part of my role will be to promote the PCA as a centre of excellence to anyone with a shared passion for the protection and improvement of our built environment.
-We are also proud of our extensive training programme – and we will work to consolidate our reputation for providing high quality, unbiased, accurate information and instruction.
-Sustainability is also a key driver for us. We want to highlight to consumers and specifiers the role we and our members play in protecting and preserving the nation’s built heritage.
-Sustainability is at the core of everything we do, so we must recognise and promote this to a wider audience. Professional, considered and targeted preservation techniques – such as timber repairs, the elimination of damp problems and structural stabilisation – often play a key role in the refurbishment and maintenance of our existing housing stock.
-This type of work preserves and protects what we already have, with a minimal impact on the environment and resources.”
So, it seems we face a choice between ‘securing the recovery’ or being taken seriously by the markets with regard to deficit reduction. Between halving the deficit (by £78m) over the next four years or a more ‘roots and branches’ attack on spending perhaps something more akin to Ireland, where cuts and tax rises in 2009 of around 5% of GDP would be like taking £65bn out of the UK economy in a single year.
In all of this, something very fundamental is being overlooked. And it’s time to wake up and realise what we’re missing. Here’s why.
The drive for savings has focused on Government back office functions – Finance, HR, Procurement, IT. There seems to have been a reluctance to date to think beyond this – possibly stemming from the, in our view, mistaken premise that this is the best way to ‘protect front line services’.
But, think about it. Based on HMG’s own data , Finance, HR and Procurement functions typically represent 0.6% to 2% of organisational spending. IT, typically between 4% and 8%. Across all these areas, the estimated potential for savings is £4bn a year on annual spend of £18bn.
All of which is certainly not to be sneezed at. But now just think what could be achieved if we open up for scrutiny the other 90-95% of operational costs at the heart of business operations. On this scale, even relatively small improvements could have a huge impact for savings. THIS is surely what we need to be turning our minds to now, in the face of today’s demands for long-term, sustainable savings. And, unlike the back office which has been targeted since 2004, it’s a largely untapped area for savings.
This is not ‘nice theory’, but based on pragmatic experience at the sharp end. Atos Origin has a long track record of working with Government clients to help drive savings in traditional, back office areas. Over the past 12-18 months, however, we have increasingly focused on helping to deliver improvements and reduce cost of services to the citizen. And we are already seeing glimpses of the ‘art of the possible’ in terms of what this can mean for savings.
Take, for example, health. Within the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority (SHA), Atos Origin was selected to support the application of ‘lean’ principles across a whole health economy in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire. This work involved engaging with patients, clinicians and managers in a sector that employs 11,000 people and serves a population of 483,000. The requirement was to deliver two things improvements in quality and reductions in costs. Over an 18 month period, our approach led to improvements in A&E performance, reductions in waiting times, reductions in delayed discharges and the identification of 21 projects with potential recurring savings of nearly £50 million over a 3 year period. This represents a return on investment of more than 50:1.
Now imagine that replicated across all hospitals and all SHA’s
Which is why, in our view, optimising end to end customer service costs, from first interaction to service delivery, now represents the biggest potential for new, scale savings. Fundamentally, it’s all about taking a ‘whole system’ view and reducing cost and improving service by removing duplication and hand-offs between different delivery silos.
What’s more, experience demonstrates that these savings do NOT have to be at the expense of service quality. Far from it. Redesigning and restructuring services offers real scope for improving BOTH effectiveness AND efficiency. It does, however, require a willingness to fundamentally re-think the way public services operate.
Of course, there are beartraps awaiting the unwary in adopting this new approach. The most dangerous of which is setting out with an insufficient understanding of what’s most important and valuable to different groups of citizens. In this case, the risk is that efficiency comes at the cost of reduced effectiveness and quality of service which is definitely NOT the answer.
Underpinning all this, therefore, are some key principles:
Develop real customer insight and don’t treat all citizens the same – which means moving away from a -one size fits all approach. And don’t assume you know your customer and their expectations. The societal, technological and economic changes, just in the past 5 years, mean that the way different groups of citizens need, and want, to interact with Government changes constantly.
Focus on how best to achieve desired outcomes, rather than improving administrative processes. Efficiency gains may drive down administrative costs, but only increased effectiveness will drive down overall programme spend.
Put minimising unnecessary customer contact and eliminating non essential steps at the forefront of any process re-design. Managing customer demand and sign posting the most appropriate route for each customer are equally important.
In summary, challenging times require us to think more radically and holistically to open up whole new potential areas for savings in the next spending round. It won’t happen overnight, and does require a significant culture change. By far the most important thing a new Government must do, therefore, is to break with old habits and mantras, and put in place new governance, budgeting and corporate and personal incentives that will break down silo thinking and allow and encourage public sector staff to think fundamentally differently about how services are delivered.
1. Cf.Learning from the Irish recession, Stephanie Flanders, BBC economics editor, 9 April 2010
2. Benchmarking the Back Office – Central Government, 2009
The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre’s (QEIICC) impeccable handling of the Iraq Inquiry has brought its capabilities to the attention of a worldwide audience. The hearing, the first event to be held in the Centre’s recently-opened inquiry suite, has provoked widespread interest in the outstanding facilities offered by The QEIICC, an executive agency of the Department For Communities and Local Government.
Already established as the leading venue for government and public sector events, The QEIICC is one of the most prestigious purpose-built centres of its kind, situated in the heart of Westminster amid the spectacular scenery of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye.
Meeting, conference and event planners are not just attracted to the Centre’s location but also its flexibility, modern comforts, highly professional staff and technological support such as wireless internet access and in-house audio-visual services.
The self-contained inquiry suite comprises an inquiry room that can seat up to 100 theatre-style and a media room suitable for 50 journalists, as well as a witness lounge and two offices.
Sue Etherington, acting commercial director at The QEIICC comments: -Thanks to our unrivalled facilities, outstanding security, central location, leading technology and the experience and professionalism of our staff – including our discretion with regards to high profile events – The QEIICC is perfectly placed to be the venue of choice for inquiry events.
In total, The QEIICC has four main auditoria, seven conference rooms and over 20 smaller meeting rooms across seven floors. Capable of hosting 2-2,500 delegates, the conference rooms and smaller meeting rooms can be used in a variety of combinations to meet the needs of each specific event.
The award-winning in-house catering team, Leith’s at the Centre, offer an original and bespoke service with the desired elegance and style that comes with experience.
It recently unveiled a range of new menus for 2010. Executive head chef Gary Parsons and his team have devised a creative set of sustainable, Fairtrade and seasonal menus, offering QEIICC clients a balanced and nutritional selection of food and drink for the duration of their event.
In line with The QEIICC’s continued commitment to providing value for money to its clients, Leith’s at the Centre has also taken the decision to freeze its menu prices for the coming year.
Richard Davis, deputy general manager with Leith’s at The QEIICC comments: -Our new menus consider the importance of sustainability and healthy balanced choice, whilst offering interesting and delicious food to all delegates. Leith’s also understands that events are price sensitive in this uncertain economic climate and so has kept the tariff static.
Ernest Vincent, chief executive at The QEIICC, adds: -Whatever the size of the event, QEIICC clients can enjoy a range of fresh, uncomplicated and contemporary food and drink tailored to their requirements. From breakfasts or light refreshments to fork buffets, canaps, a la carte or cocktail party collections, Leith’s provide the ultimate dining experience for any event.
Following investment of £1.2milion over recent years, The QEIICC is one of the most IT intelligent buildings in the UK, with a built-in wireless network, an in-house audio-visual service including live broadcast and webcasting, plus a resident IT team and an online conference service.
The Centre’s dedicated in-house audio-visual service, Interface AV, is able to offer suggestions, develop themes and guide clients to make best use of the technology.
It has installed a digital signage system to provide digital displays throughout the Centre for way-finding, conference updates, travel, weather and news. Additionally, digital signage can broadcast advertising specific and directly relevant to your conference.
The impact of stunning visuals, captivating presentations, international links and audio enhancements make your messages memorable and endorse the value of the conference. To really captivate delegates’ attention and capture their opinions, audience participation technology adds a new and fun element where delegates’ feedback comment into hand-held terminals.
Meanwhile, live links, web casts and video recordings enable you to communicate beyond The QEIICC to delegates not able to physically attend.
The increasing role of technology in events and conferences is highlighted in Convention 2020, an ongoing international research project of which The QEIICC is a platinum sponsor.
Phase one of the study, founded by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), industry trade show IMEX and Fast Future Research, has already been completed and the results were announced at The QEIICC in March.
It showed that a large majority of industry professionals expect live video streaming to remote participants, social networks and the downloading of event content to mobile phones to become common over the next decade.
The QEIICC’s forward-thinking adoption of these and many other technologies will ensure it stays at the forefront of the conference industry for a long time to come.
The QEIICC offers a specially-reduced day delegate rate for government organisations. For more information, call the Sales Team on 020 7798 4426 or email info@qeiicc.co.uk
Apart from shrinking your carbon footprint, what other benefits are there for Colleges that move to electronic based financial management? As well as examining the environmental effects, Simon Kearsley, CEO at accounting software vendor, Symmetry (www.symmetry.co.uk) explores other reasons why going paperless can improve processes, save time, increase efficiency and contribute to CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) efforts.
With widespread cuts in FE funding this year, the sector must focus on how they can make better use of their limited resources and look at ways in which they can reduce waste and improve efficiency. One area that is ripe for modernisation is the area of financial management. Many Colleges still rely on a paper-based culture that not only harms the environment but also leads to unnecessary time and cost in both printing and travel. Here are the areas where introducing electronic based accounting can not only improve your carbon footprint but deliver significant efficiencies and cost-savings.
Reduce time including bottlenecks of authorisation chains
Approving purchase orders or invoices can often involve multiple individuals across an organisation in the sign off process. When paper-based documents are used, the whole process can be delayed due to sending originals or copies through the internal/external post or simply because a Purchase Order goes missing or sits in an in-tray for days or weeks waiting for a signature from a busy finance professional. This whole authorisation procedure can easily be automated by relying on electronic based documentation that can be emailed directly to recipients who can also be chased with alert reminders.
Drive down delivery costs
According to statistics, an organisation can save up to £1 per document if it is sent electronically rather than via the post. This not only takes into account the postal charges but also the stationery, labour, printing and waste disposal costs. For Colleges that are sending out hundreds or thousands of invoices or statements every month these costs can soon mount up. By using electronic based invoicing these costs can be removed.
Save space by storing financial documents electronically
Premises represent probably one of the biggest overheads, yet old-fashioned filing cabinets still occupy a significant proportion of the College campus. By electronically storing and archiving finance documents such as invoices, purchase orders, supplier statements and/or delivery notes you can free up storage areas for more desks or even consider moving to a smaller, more cost-effective site.
Better use of human resources
Whether you’re processing an order or managing the receipt of an invoice, if you rely on a paper-based accounting system then someone in the finance department will have to spend hours inputting data, photocopying, faxing, posting or retrieving documents. Instead, modern document management technology can also save considerable management time. You can scan in invoices using OCR (optical character recognition) which identifies the supplier by reading the VAT or company registration number. Alternatively you can use a barcode system which tags the scanned document so it can be easily retrieved afterwards and tied up to the relevant records in the core finance system.
For processing purchase orders there is also a substantial amount of work created for the finance department in chasing approval for expenditure or making amendments to orders. By using a paperless approach, the finance department can escalate the approvals process electronically and can even devolve purchase order creation to individual departments.
Improve supplier relationships and avoid disputes
With paperless billing and payment you can promote better relationships with suppliers and potentially secure better terms or discounting. You can also remove the time taken by finance staff to manage suppliers who are chasing monies. You should also be able to resolve any disputes quicker because you can find the relevant details on the system without having to fish through numerous files.
Support remote/flexible working
With all documentation held centrally on a network, there is no reason for certain members of staff to be physically present to authorise purchases or payments, making it easier to support a flexible or remote working policy. Likewise if employees are on the move they can send back approvals from their PDA.
Add value elsewhere
By easing the burden on the finance department, skilled resources can be used elsewhere for planning, strategy and budgeting, rather than wasting time on administrative tasks that add little value.
As you can see there’s a lot more to a paperless operations strategy than fulfilling environmental obligations: it can help you to become more productive and efficient with less human and physical resources. If you’re considering how you can reduce the reliance on paper and want to reap the additional benefits that electronic accounting can bring then it may be easier and more cost-effective than you think. On average most Colleges that introduce electronic-based accounting procedures find that both finance and non-finance staff welcome the change and typically see a return on investment within six months.
Mini Case Study
One of the largest providers of education & training in the Midlands introduces e-accounting to deliver greater flexibility & efficiencies
North Warwickshire & Hinckley College (www.nwhc.ac.uk) is based on two main campuses in Nuneaton and Hinckley and has outreach centres throughout North Warwickshire, offering a wide variety of programmes to individuals, communities and businesses. The College was graded ‘outstanding’ at its last Ofsted inspection; now has LSIS Beacon Status which is awarded to the top 10% of the colleges in the country; and was awarded the Training Quality Standard with excellence in Adult Social Care.
Key challenge: Changes in how the College operates prompted review of accounting practices
Director of Finance at North Warwickshire & Hinckley College, Shabir Ismail explains, -Over the years the nature of our training provision has evolved with more and more courses being delivered across multiple sites and locations including delivery at employers’ premises. As a result, many personnel are constantly out of the office and are mobile much of the time. This means that financial processes were taking much longer than they needed to, as we had to wait for managers to return before they could sign off purchase orders and so on.
We also calculated that when handling documents manually, it takes approximately 10 minutes to process every order and 7 minutes to process an invoice. When dealing with 15,000 invoices per year this gives you an idea of the scale of time involved.
Solution: Implementing a paperless accounting strategy
In 2008, says Shabir, -we decided that we could cut out the paper trail and achieve greater efficiencies by introducing electronic based financial processes. By scanning and storing what were previously paper based documents electronically, we would hopefully overcome the delays and expense associated with time-consuming distribution and management. The key areas we wanted to address were reducing the time spent in processing invoices and ensuring that goods & services for learners were delivered faster.
The College began by implementing Symmetry Financials’ ‘DocumentManager’; a document management & scanning solution powered by Version One. In order to tailor the product to fit with the College’s particular workflow demands, the finance team worked closely with Symmetry to build a customised solution.
-We invested a substantial amount of time scoping out a strategy that would best fit our operation. This allowed us to explain fully what was required and enabled us to work closely with Symmetry’s development team to fine tune the implementation to our needs. In particular, we wanted an audit trail that showed who authorised, verified and processed each individual document. says Shabir.
DocumentManager enables more streamlined accounting by converting physical financial paperwork such as purchase invoices into electronic files. Invoices, for example, are immediately attached to the purchase invoice record in the accounting system at the point of input, saving time and speeding up the authorisation processes.
Introducing Portal – a personalised view of real-time finance information
The second part of the solution was to deploy an on-line dashboard of financial information that can be personalised specifically to the user.
Shabir says, -This allows us to speed up our workflow by enabling users to see at a glance what financial tasks require attention and in turn allows them to drill down to the relevant documents without having to have full access to the main accounting system. This means that orders don’t have to wait until a budget holder is back in the office but can be processed whenever and wherever they can go on-line.
-In time this will allow us to introduce real-time information to staff such as income or expenditure statements against budgets. It currently allows managers to drill down to the nominal ledger and change the cost code if it is wrong, rather than having to go into the main system. Senior finance managers can even view all the signatories on screen making it easier for us to approve payments.
Key Benefits 2,500 hours saved per annum
Shabir summarises the benefits that a paperless strategy delivers, -By moving to electronic based accounting the College can achieve efficiencies across the organisation. We can cut labour-intensive activities, speed up delivery of goods & services, meet environmental goals and make considerable cost-savings in terms of saving office space and reduced overheads associated with handling paper-based items.
The College has seen many benefits:
2,500 hours saved per annum on invoice processing across the college
Authorisation time reduced by 10 minutes per invoice
for non-financial staff to concentrate on their key role rather than be distracted by administration
storage space required – moving to scanned copies means originals can be shredded over time
Goods & services delivered to learners quicker
Postage & Stationery Savings
Better relationships with suppliers
More sustainable/greener method of working
Releases time in finance department so value can be added elsewhere e.g. planning, cost control
Firearms belonging to World War II hero Geoffrey Hallowes have been found in Surrey and donated to The Gordon Highlanders Museum. In March 2008 a local Surrey resident reported to police that she had found six firearms while clearing out a property in Surrey. It is not uncommon for people to come across firearms about which they had no knowledge when clearing out a property.
Extensive enquiries have led to the weapons being placed in The Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen as part of the Regimental history and heritage along with Geoffrey Hallowes’ war medals.
Firearms legislation is very strict with a liability falling on people who are in possession of the weapons without the necessary certificate. This local resident did exactly what is recommended in such circumstances and reported the find immediately to the police.
All six firearms were surrendered to Surrey Police as the resident had no wish or lawful reason to retain them. There then began a series of enquiries to establish the origin of the guns.
The information that was provided suggested they could have historical connections with the Second World War so details were provided to the Imperial War Museum. All firearms are individually identified and the Museum was able to suggest who the former owner was likely to be.
Enquiries then moved on to The Gordon Highlanders Museum which was able to confirm the historical context of the firearms.
The owner was identified as Geoffrey McLeod Hallowes who served with the Gordon Highlanders and later became an SOE (Special Operations Executive) agent, helping to organise French resistance after D-Day. His contribution during the Second World War has been recognised by a number of gallantry awards, including the Croix de Guerre. Mr Hallowes died in 2006. He was married to French Resistance fighter and George Cross winner Odette Hallowes, MBE.
Commenting on the discovery of the firearms, Roger Weedon, Firearms Licensing Manager at Surrey Police, said:
-Our first consideration is the safety and security of people in Surrey and this resident is to be commended for doing the right thing by immediately arranging for the weapons to come within our safe keeping.
-Many older firearms do have some value either financially or as in this case historically. We will always work with finders of weapons to ensure they are disposed of lawfully in the best way possible.
-We were delighted to be able to identify the context of the use of these firearms and were able to arrange for their lawful transfer to a museum where they will be retained for the benefit of future generations.
-If anyone ever finds a firearm anywhere please immediately contact the police and work with us to arrange safe disposal. In the wrong hands the consequences can be disastrous, and all reports will be dealt with appropriately.
Curator of The Gordon Highlanders Museum, Jesper Ericsson, commented:
-The acquisition of these firearms is the most important addition to the Museum’s Armoury since it opened in 2007 and will become the most important items in the firearms collection as a whole. This is because not only can we connect these firearms with an individual, but an individual with an extraordinary history. We are most grateful to Surrey Police for their generous help and support in facilitating this donation.
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A new e-book has been published to guide PR and comms staff through the maze of media law.
The PR Media Law Guide explains how to keep comms operations safe from threats like defamation, the Data Protection Act and contempt of court.
It also explains how to use media law and the regulatory codes in proactive and reactive situations, and to deal with post-publication issues.
It is clear and simple and and covers issues like:
· Restraining investigations and publications
· Dealing efficiently with reporters and photographers
· Managing Facebook and other social media safely
· Delivering effective reputation management
· Negotiating better rights of reply
· Safeguarding press releases and client talkboards from defamation
· Dealing with copyright issues
· Responding to trademark abuses
The e-book has been written by Cleland Thom, one of the UK’s leading media law and consultants and trainers.
Cleland said: ‘This e-book is a must for PR and comms staff. It offers expert guidance in laypeople’s terms.
‘I regularly come across press releases that break one law or another- and the penalties for getting things wrong can be high.
‘The guide also offers proven media management techniques which have transformed some of my clients’ reputation through the media.’
Cleland has delivered media law courses PR and comms staff to public authorities, including Herts County Council, Surrey Fire and Rescue, and the London Borough of Brent.
He is legal adviser to United Utilities and 25 other clients, and has successfully challenged large organisations like BBC Watchdog, Sunday Telegraph, The Times and the News of the World, as well as numerous local newspapers and broadcasters.
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Lean thinking, and working, has had huge buy-in from across the manufacturing sector for many years now and, more recently, there are increasing numbers of organisations from service and public sectors who are beginning to understand that lean principles and approaches are just as relevant to them.
My own background is in the public sector and after more than 20 years in a central government department, I recently started working with the Manufacturing Institute (TMI) which is driving lean transformation both in industry and the public sector. For me, there is a strong sense of continuity because for the last four years of my life as a civil servant I was helping to introduce lean principles and approaches to a key government department.
In recent years, four of the biggest central government departments: Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC); the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); the Ministry for Justice (MOJ) and Ministry of Defence (MOD), have introduced lean working to at least part of their business operations.
Initially, at least, there was a huge amount of scepticism about whether or not lean principles were relevant to the public sector. Indeed there was a firm belief amongst some staff in those departments that precisely because it worked in manufacturing meant it wasn’t appropriate for them and their environment. The -we’re different syndrome was deeply embedded. It is interesting to note that in my short time with TMI this refrain has been repeated – across all sectors whether in manufacturing, food, pharmaceuticals or healthcare.
In the early days of introducing lean to the public sector, the trade unions were not convinced that lean principles were right for their sector and their members. However, as their knowledge and understanding of lean increased, their concerns became more focused on how each of the departments was introducing lean rather than whether or not the principles were relevant.
Resistance was also aired in certain national press, who despite their criticisms of public sector inefficiency, were at times unsupportive of the introduction of lean working and there were numerous stories about -black tape and bananas! Very entertaining at the time, but missing the fundamental point about what the departments were really trying to achieve – a greater focus on customers and better outcomes for them, allied with increased internal efficiency and effectiveness.
Given the significant level of internal resistance and the external, often uninformed, criticism, why did these departments continue their lean quest? Why did they embark on the enormous task of trying to change not just how their people did their jobs but also the underlying organisational culture – how everyone in the organisation behaved?
As with any other sector there were several significant drivers for change, which are, if anything, even more relevant today than they were four or five years ago. The first of these was undoubtedly severe financial constraints – a reduction in departmental budgets often following on from a major structural change, like the merger of Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise to create HMRC. The new department was required to find post-merger efficiency savings of some 12.5%. At the same time they recognised the need to achieve better outcomes for customers and a real improvement in the quality of their outputs to customers. Essentially they needed to do more work to a higher standard, at a lower cost and with fewer people! Most readers whether in the public sector or not, will recognise that challenge – and this is where lean thinking and principles come in.
Customer focus is at the heart of lean and can underpin huge shifts in service improvement. A big challenge for HMRC was the inability of their people to recognise that they have -customers. They could see that they had taxpayers, but not -customers. Often the reason for this was that they equated -customer with -choice. In HMRC many staff struggled with the concept of -customer since taxpayers couldn’t choose another supplier! This lack of ‘customer’ awareness and responsiveness is echoed in numerous other public sector organisations.
Of course choice is a key element of -customer but a much more important one is -service and HMRC staff really began to understand that they did indeed have customers when they saw that they provide a service and that the service has costs attached which taxpayers/citizens pay for! None of us want to pay more tax than is strictly necessary and we want our public services to be as efficient and effective as possible to minimise the tax burden.
As these departments introduce lean, they have been seeking to identify and eliminate from their processes what is waste – from a customer’s perspective. This is a challenging process of analysis in any environment, but even more so when some of the waste in the process is present because of process or regime failures – particularly where the architects of those failures are very eager to ‘save face’.
It is reassuring to read about progress being made in these four key departments. As citizens we need to continue to insist on improvements in the level of service we experience from government departments. But we must also be willing to recognise that they are making real efforts to build continuous improvement cultures.
As we see from the best exemplars in manufacturing, really embedding lean principles in an organisation is not a -quick fix solution to stringent budget cuts, but rather requires a long term commitment to changing thinking and behaviour by all parties. This has consequences for the frontline staff and managers involved, but also for the leaders at the top of the organisations – which means wholehearted commitment and involvement from senior civil servants and other key stakeholders, such as government ministers.
The Manufacturing Institute www.manufacturinginstitute.co.uk
is a leader in operational excellence – delivering end-to-end lean transformation programmes – aligning best practice lean methodologies with organisational strategy to achieve sustainable improvement and profound cultural change. The organisation has a 15-year track record in providing best practice implementation support and skills development – partnering public sector organisations and blue-chip enterprises in the UK and Europe.
Every Young Offender’s Institute offers education classes as well as practical training courses that help to advance skills and improve people’s chances of finding a job once they have been released. However, one particular Youth Offending Team (YOT) and City Learning Centre (CLC) has taken a creative approach to this concept, using ICT with some very positive results. Alex Jones from Sheffield West CLC discusses how educational software has been instrumental in addressing central Government policy, by helping young offenders examine their behaviour and become more responsible citizens.
‘Comparisons of the educational background of young people supervised by the youth justice system with the general population show that, on average, young offenders have had difficult and often poor previous experiences of education. Lack of statutory education was one of the largest factors associated with re-offending according to a study by the Youth Justice Boards in 2005 (DCSF/HO/YJB 2007).
Teamed with the fact that, according to the Prison Reform Trust, over two-thirds of young offenders are expected to re-offend within two years of release, it is vital that we find effective ways of educating these youths about their crimes. Through a scheme led by the Sheffield Youth Offending Team, staff were looking for something to use with their young offenders group that was easy to use, would motivate them to talk openly about their crimes, and remove barriers to explore their behaviour. It was agreed that ICT was a tool to achieve this. The CLC supported the scheme by providing space, equipment and training for these professionals.
Of course ICT has many positives, but also a number of negatives too, especially when working with young offenders. Generally students find it more motivating, and we find that they don’t need an awful lot of skill to make the finished product look good. In this way, everyone can contribute. Some individuals however don’t have a great deal of patience, and can become angry and quickly frustrated if things don’t work the way they want it to. It is therefore important to use software that works quickly and effectively, without being too complicated.
Every two to three weeks for an afternoon, Youth Offending Staff work on storyboarding with a program called Kar2ouche from Immersive Education. The Kar2ouche storyboarding tool, with 56 different content titles, is used in around 7,000 UK schools. The workers encouraged students to retell their crimes, such as vandalism and street altercations, from the point of view of the victim. Persuading them to think about how the victims of their crime would feel puts them in a different perspective. They can choose different 3D characters to represent the parties involved; themselves, the victim, their parents, etc.
These can then be placed onto suitable backgrounds, and relevant props can be added to complete the scenarios. These retellings were then challenged to help the young offender examine the choices they made and talk about how they might do things differently next time. The software encourages reflection without preaching or dictating – the young people go off in their own direction with their storyboards and in this way they have a sense of control and ownership over their own learning.
The students, many of whom have not been in education for a while, tend to settle within five to ten minutes, and subsequently stay focused on the task and remain calm. Staff support and engagement value of the software are both two major factors in the success of this programme, and the Sheffield Youth Offending Team has now purchased the software themselves and are able to run this project independently.
Games-based learning
The success of the Kar2ouche scheme led to the development of a second project using MissionMaker game authoring software. Although not currently running, this scheme involved a group of young people mostly subject to Intensive Supervision Orders meaning that they are obliged to attend these sessions, although are under no obligation to engage once they get there. During the sessions students were shown a particular aspect of a game and taught how to use MissionMaker to create this. They subsequently created 3D worlds, added game rules, characters and speech. From this they expressed a huge sense of achievement and were able to pass the games they produced onto their friends to play.
Donna Burton-Wilcock, CEO of Immersive Education, is thrilled by the success of the projects: -We are proud to support such an innovative and important scheme where young people can be fully engaged in the process of understanding their situation and the implications of their actions. Multimedia products appeal to a wide range of learning preferences and have the advantage of being able to reinforce learning in a multi-sensory way through the use of visual and auditory stimuli. However, we shouldn’t under-estimate the role played by the talented staff and patient volunteers working on both projects. Their empathy with, and understanding of, the young offenders encouraged their progress and facilitated learning.
Since the first project started, we have had a few hundred young offenders through the doors. According to Barry Phillips, who formally evaluated the project, there have been some notable success stories where it is difficult to identify an alternative project which would have had the same impact. Similar projects which introduce and address issues of actions and their consequences can be very powerful, and are well placed to meet the demands of recent central Government policy developments, namely: accredited skills development; supported progression to further education or return to education; developing links with employers and concepts of restorative justice.
For more information on Kar2ouche or MissionMaker, visit Immersive Education’s website: www.immersiveeducation.com
‘Doing more for less’ has long been debated in the public sector, but now, the need to cut public spending, has become urgent. The Public Sector is not just facing a painful adjustment to immediate financial issues; it is also challenged by factors that will be impacting us for decades to come – such as our ageing population, our inadequate physical infrastructure, and the need to reskill the nation’s workforce.
So how can our government departments, local authorities and other public bodies ‘do more for less’? This was the subject of an 18-month Capgemini research project where we looked at how issues currently facing the UK public sector were tackled by industry and commerce, and by public authorities around the world.
The result is ‘The Department of the Future’; a report which shows that services can be transformed for the better while at the same time reducing costs.
During the research, we identified six levers outlined in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Components and levers in the Department of the Future framework
Each one of these levers can be pulled to improve policy and customer outcomes. The levers identified during the research were:
1. Engaging citizens – Applying techniques pioneered by companies such as Amazon to gain real insights into what citizens want and need.
2. Tailored services – Moving beyond ‘one size fits all’ services that are tailored to people’s needs and are cheaper to provide
3. ‘Lean’ frontline operations – Applying techniques proven in manufacturing and distribution to cut waste in frontline services
4. Reshaping delivery – Refocusing governments on setting standards, creating markets, commissioning and managing service providers rather than necessarily delivering themselves.
5. Revisiting scope – Ensuring that the required outcomes and scope of the organisation’s work remain aligned to priority needs.
6. Making the case for change – Building consensus for change with the public, with politicians and within the civil service.
The Department of the Future framework has been tried and tested in the UK including with the London borough of Barking and Dagenham who faced a need to get workless women back to work.
By understanding the specific needs of the women and the barriers to employment that they faced Barking and Dagenham were able to deliver a new model to join-up services. This comprises outreach and a new coach function to tailor a personalised package of services. A two year pilot was launched in September 2009, which is helping more women build the skills they need to get back into work. This example could be the starting point for other public sector bodies to change how they deliver citizen services.
Hot on the heels of Audit Scotland’s timely publication on the need to improve public sector efficiency comes the call for written evidence from the Scottish Parliament Finance Committee on what preparations are required by the public sector to deliver efficient public services during a time of tightening public expenditure. The evidence period extends to the end of March but the key themes are not hard to discern.
There is now a consensus across politicians and senior public sector leaders that a radical response to the new economic reality is required. As Audit Scotland put it -the scale of the financial challenges facing the Scottish public sector means that a new approach is needed that fundamentally reviews services and priorities.” The general acceptance that major change is required provides a real opportunity for recreating a public sector focussed on priorities and delivering high quality services. As they say, the first step in dealing with any addiction is to accept you have a problem.
So what should the response to these challenges be? The delivery of anywhere between 7% and 13% real cuts in public spending (based on Scottish Government Department Estimates) over the next few years requires radical change.
Firstly, there needs to be an acceptance that some spending commitments are unaffordable and require, at best, to be delayed until better economic times. A political consensus is also required regarding the priorities and outcomes which should be funded and an acknowledgement that channelling money into these areas means even greater savings are required in non-priority ones. In order to inform the difficult decisions required between competing priorities, it is vital that there is accurate costing and performance information. This needs to be brought together in effective, up to date management accounting reporting which links activities with their respective costs and outcomes. Audit Scotland has consistently identified limitations in the information public sector bodies use to manage their finances and performance. This flaw must be rectified.
A whole system approach to looking for savings is required. So, for example, the connection between policing resources, the number of prosecutions, court availability and prison capacity needs to be considered as a whole. Without a full understanding of these inter-dependencies, driving savings in one spending area may just lead to more unavoidable demand for public spending in another area.
Reducing the demands for public sector services is also essential to reducing costs. This means more innovative approaches and interventions are required at an earlier stage to reduce the demand for services such as health and justice.
A political drive is also needed to force through collaboration and shared services. It is clear that some of the current mergers of institutions and organisations are being driven by financial or estates reasons. These could be in the best interests of users but these motivations will not necessarily lead to the optimal service delivery structures. It is widely accepted we have too many public sector bodies in Scotland and with 32 local authorities 14 health boards and 8 police forces it is hard to argue that geographically services are not unduly fragmented. What is needed is an informed but politically driven initiative to simplify the public sector landscape and a removal of barriers to more innovative ways of working.
With around 52% of all public sector expenditure in Scotland spend on staff costs there will inevitably have to be significant reductions in staff costs if the savings proposed are to be delivered. Tackling the high public sector earners will bring some savings but much more is required including the comprehensive reform of public sector final salary pension schemes. Again, there is an acceptance by most commentators that these are not affordable going forward but they also question if there is a lack of will to do more than tinker with the issue.
Significant redundancy programmes may save money for one side of the public sector but adding to the jobless total increases the spend on benefits which will in turn lead to further squeezes on other discretionary spending. To deliver the savings without major job losses requires not only an acceptance of a period of little or no wage increases but also an imaginative and flexible approach to employment. Despite the impact of the recession on the private sector the unemployment levels have not reached the levels of previous down-turns because private sector employers and employees have accepted changes in working practices to protect jobs. So, shorter working weeks, periods of unpaid leave, and job-sharing are now common-place in the private sector as a response to recession. The public sector needs to follow this example.
The challenges and opportunities are certainly there to overhaul public sector service provision in Scotland and deliver the substantial savings required. But change will require leadership from politicians and senior public servants. The challenge to our politicians must be whether they have the foresight and vision to meet these challenges when faced with forthcoming elections.
A Labour-dominated Select Committee has today slammed Labour Ministers for their botched plans to regionalise the fire service. It declares that the project has -been inadequately planned, poorly executed, and badly managed and a -catalogue of poor judgement and mismanagement.
In 2004, John Prescott initiated the ‘FireControl’ project to regionalise England’s fire control rooms, which handle emergency calls for the fire services. Mirroring other bloated Government IT projects, it is massively over-budget and behind schedule. The costs have soared from £120 million to £420 million. Management consultants, PA Consulting, have received £37 million in fees despite the missed targets and soaring costs. The new London Control Room will not, as planned, be operational for the Olympics.
This comes as the fire levy on council tax bills has soared from £27 a year on a Band D bill in 1998 to £64 from 1 April 2010. Despite the fact that the Fire HQs are not operational, the Government has managed to kit each out with working £6,000 deluxe espresso machines -in beautiful polished chrome.
Shadow Minister for the Fire Services, Stewart Jackson said:
-Labour’s plans for these regional fire centres have been dysfunctional from start to finish. Yet again, Gordon Brown has wasted the public’s money on a botched and over-blown IT project. They can spend £420 million on the likes of deluxe espresso machines, but can’t fix the system to answer the phones.
-This is a scandalous waste of taxpayers’ cash. Such money could have been used to help keep council tax down or protect fire stations from closure. This is another example of how Labour wastes your money on white elephant projects and why we urgently need a change of government.
Forget iris and fingerprint scans, scanning noses could be a quicker and easier way to verify a person’s identity, according to scientists at the University of Bath. With worries about illegal immigration and identity theft, authorities are increasingly looking to using an individual’s physical characteristics, known as biometrics, to confirm their identity.
Unlike other facial features used for biometrics, such as eyes or ears, noses are difficult to conceal and also aren’t changed much by facial expression.
Dr Adrian Evans and Adrian Moorhouse, from the University’s Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, decided to investigate whether images of people’s noses could be used to recognise individuals.
They used a photographic system called PhotoFace, developed by researchers at the University of the West of England in Bristol, to scan the 3D shape of volunteers’ noses and used computer software to analyse them according to six main nose shapes: Roman, Greek, Nubian, Hawk, Snub and Turn-up.
Instead of using the whole shape of the nose, the researchers used three characteristics in their analysis: the ridge profile, the nose tip, and the nasion or section between the eyes at the top of the nose.
They combined the curvature of the ridge with the ratios of the tip and nasion widths and ridge length. This combined ratio was then used to distinguish between a database of 36 people.
Whilst the researchers used a relatively small sample, they found that nose scanning showed good potential for use as a biometric, with a good recognition rate and a faster rate of image processing than with conventional biometric techniques such as whole face recognition.
Dr Evans said: -Noses are prominent facial features, and yet their use as a biometric has been largely unexplored. We wanted to find out how good they could be at recognising individuals from a database.
There’s no one magic biometric – irises are a powerful biometric, but can be difficult to capture accurately and can easily be obscured by eyelids or glasses.
-Noses, however, are much easier to photograph and are harder to conceal, so a system that recognises noses would work better with an uncooperative subject or for covert surveillance.
-We’ve only tried this on a small sample of people, but the technique certainly shows potential, perhaps to be used in combination with other identification techniques.
Professor Melvyn Smith led the team at the University of the West of England (UWE) who developed the PhotoFace system.
He said: -This collaborative project with Bath is very exciting work with great potential. PhotoFace is an innovative 3D face data capture system developed as part of an EPSRC funded project involving UWE, Imperial College, the Home Office (Scientific Development Branch) and General Dynamics Ltd.
“It works by taking photos lit by a flash from several different angles so that four images are taken in very rapid succession of every point on the face, each under different controlled lighting conditions.
-The technique is known as photometric stereo and UWE’s Machine Vision Laboratory is one of only three UK centres with expertise in this area. The software then works out the colour, surface orientation and depth of each point on the face by analysing the shading within each of the photos.
“The technique is able to achieve a level of detail that is beyond current competing technologies and can be extended to a myriad of other applications, ranging from industrial surface inspection to cosmetics.”
The researchers plan in the future to build up a larger database of noses to test and refine the software to see if it can pick out individuals from a larger group of people, or distinguish between relatives from the same family.
A woman who sparked a rape investigation after claiming to have been attacked by two men has been sentenced. Sarah Wood, of Romford Close, Oldham, admitted perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing.
Today, Friday 26 March 2010, she was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for 12-months at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
Shortly after 2am on 7 March 2009, Wood contacted police stating two men had raped her near Emmott Way a short time earlier as she walked home following a night out in Oldham.
When GMP receives a report of rape a team of highly trained detectives are sent to investigate. The victim receives support from specially trained officers who offer help and assistance through the entire criminal investigation and beyond.
The victim is also offered the specialist services offered at St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Rape Crisis, Survivors Trust, the Victim Support and Witness Service and Manchester Action on Street Health (M.A.S.H).
Wood however maintained her account during both a video interview with Police officers and a subsequent attendance at St Mary’s Hospital, utilising both their medical and counselling services.
The subsequent investigation disproved her account of what happened. She continued to lie to police and only admitted the offence following legal advice.
Detective Sergeant Jason Byrne, from the Sexual Offences Unit at Oldham, said: “Wood repeatedly lied to police, prompting a full and thorough investigation at considerable expense.
“A number of officers spent many hours on this investigation when they could have been better served out in our communities and she has also wasted valuable resources at St Mary’s.
“To lie about something as serious as being raped really undermines the awful experiences of genuine victims.
“I want to stress that we treat all reports of rape extremely seriously and I would hope Wood’s foolish and reckless actions do not discourage genuine victims from coming forward.”
Robert Napier, Chairman of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), visited Merseyside this week to see the positive impact the Agency’s investment is having in the area and to assess what still needs to be done.
He was joined by a number of key partners during the visit, which took in the Anfield/Breckfield area of Liverpool. His first stop was to look at the area directly around the Liverpool Football Club stadium followed by an extensive tour of the adjacent Streets. The party then moved on to see the completed works at the Rockfield project and saw the proposed school site at Adam/Davy Street.
Robert then went on to visit Birkenhead, seeing several ongoing schemes, including the Group Repair at Craven and Paterson Street, as well as being shown the extent of the problem of derelict housing in the area. Finally, he visited the Castlefields regeneration project in Runcorn, looking at new housing, the village square local centre and a subway art gallery project.
The Housing Market Renewal programme for Merseyside is managed by NewHeartlands. It works with local councils and the HCA to allocate funding to projects in some of the sub region’s most deprived communities.
Robert Napier, Chairman of the HCA, said: -There is no doubt that HCA funding is starting to have a real impact in Merseyside. I was particularly pleased to get such positive feedback from residents who are feeling the benefit from the improvements that we, along with our partners, are bringing about. That said, there is no denying that there is still an awful lot to do in the area; my visit has put that firmly in perspective. I was keen to get the chance to speak to residents at Anfield as we are very much aiming to bring about changes for people. With our partners, we must continue to rebuild communities and tackle related issues such as poor landlords, crime and antisocial behaviour.
Brendan Nevin, Managing Director of NewHeartlands said, -We were delighted to welcome Robert Napier to the Pathfinder so that he could witness not only the vast improvements that are being made across our HMR areas but also the level of regeneration still needed in order to revitalise these neighbourhoods to make them sustainable for future generations.
Wirral Councillor and NewHeartlands Board Member George Davies said, -A key part of the visit for us was the chance to show the Chairman an area of the Pathfinder which he hadn’t visited before. Birkenhead is an area of high deprivation and we welcomed the opportunity to show Mr. Napier the neighbourhood, how the programme is working on the ground and why the continuation of funding is needed to complete the programme.
Cath Green, Executive Director Community Services at Liverpool City Council, said, -Residents from Anfield Breckfield appreciated the opportunity to speak directly to Robert Napier about the plans for their area and their hopes for a New Anfield.
Chief Executive of Halton Borough Council, David Parr, said: -This visit was an excellent opportunity to showcase Castlefields and what partnership working can deliver on the ground.
-Castlefields has seen a real transformation in recent years, with new homes and facilities already delivered and more investment planned, to improve the quality of life for residents.
Social media has taken the world by storm. More specifically, Twitter, with its simplicity and powerful outreach, has rapidly grown in popularity and usage. With the general election looming and public sector budgets tighter than ever, Adrian Moss, head of Web 2.0 at Parity, discusses the benefits of social media and how new communication mediums can be used effectively to engage voters, disseminate information and create an affinity with communities further and wider than previously possible.
Keeping in touch with people and learning what they are up to, where and when, are all natural human instincts. Social media allows Internet users to do this with ease. Some people treat this means of connectivity as a numbers game; the more ‘followers’ or ‘friends’ the better, whereas for others it is the quality of the contacts and the kind of information those people share that is most important. Personally, I am not interested in who had what for breakfast. I’d rather receive warnings about problems on the trains, driving conditions, or the latest news on topics I care about. Furthermore, using social media platforms for advice provides great insight, and fast. Asking a question to your followers with a quick ‘tweet’ for example, can provide a response within minutes, rather than hours or days, as can be the case with email. Instant feedback can be garnered from dozens of sources from just a single tweet; a great ‘return on investment’, bearing in mind this is all free of charge.
Twitter and Facebook continue to be the subject of media frenzy, further heightened by high-profile public figures adopting the platforms and engaging with communities directly. And now brands are really starting to embrace social media platforms too. IBM’s twitter feed has 14,000 followers, and the company’s management encourage staff to share details of their work, interests and activities. This activity results in a lot of people hearing about really interesting developments at IBM, generating positive PR and marketing sway. It also adds customer group interaction – all via the same portal, with zero traditional marketing budget cost. It additionally gives the brand a cheap and powerful conversational tool to contact users in the public arena.
As well as the likes of Twitter, statistics released in December 2009 revealed Facebook’s membership has reached over 400 million. These stats, coupled with mass adoption of Twitter, illustrate precisely why political parties are now looking to social media channels as avenues to promote policies and promises to current and future voters.
The Labour Party recently launched a social media drive in the run-up to the imminent general election, with what’s been dubbed the “first word-of-mouth husting. Twitter and online video postings are core to this campaign, allowing the party to deliver daily online video messages from senior campaign politicians and gain real-time feedback directly from the public. It is reassuring to hear that the organisers for this outreach have undergone new media training, to ensure this is handled appropriately. The Labour election coordinator, Douglas Alexander MP, commented on the use of social media, saying: “It’s at the school gate, in the workplace, on the doorstep and on social networking sites, where people talk to one another, that this election will be won.”
The delivery of videos as part of the Labour social media or ‘SocMed’ campaign is a powerful and personal platform for potential MPs to consult and engage with people, giving a more personal and direct feel than written text. YouTube users are another key social community – one that includes visitors of all ages and backgrounds that has been used very successfully in the past by leading brands to enhance relations with the public. Top viral videos have seen hundreds of millions of ‘hits’ online, delivering messages direct from the horse’s mouth.
We see more users in the Government and public sector emerging every week. From only a handful of MPs using Twitter twelve months ago, there are now well over one hundred, and the number is growing rapidly.
Councils who run active Twitter accounts used them in the recent snowy weather to warn the public of poor road conditions as well as roads and school closures, and interruptions to refuse collections. This information was also available on their websites, but Twitter feeds allow them to actively push the message and respective URLs out to the wider community. This is where the real power of social media lies: giving people access to communities. In the US, authorities are actively using Twitter to help ‘fast track’ information and updates on emergencies, public health and safety alerts and we can expect the UK to follow suit.
Socitm have just released a report on councils use of Twitter over the recent snowy weather called Twitter Gritter
(www.socitm.net/news/article26/twitter_gritters_new_briefing_shows_how_councils
_are_using_the_web_and_social_media_to_help_manage_local_emergencies) that shows the practical value of Twitter as a news gathering and distribution tool. Also, Peter Horrocks, the BBC’s Head of Global News recently highlighted the critical value of social networking sites as both a source of breaking news and platform of collaboration to investigate and develop the story and said to their journalists, “I’m afraid you’re not doing your job if you can’t do those things. It’s not discretionary.”
From the offset, managing a Twitter account can seem a lengthy and time-consuming task, when in fact a tweet takes just a few seconds to deliver. At 140 characters it is just a sentence or two. Followers can from here consume that message where and when they deem fit, as well as ‘retweeting’ messages, escalating the potential audiences that can be reached. Government and public sector organisations will soon start using it as a way to share important information and direct the public to points of reference online, be that their own website, or other noteworthy outlets. Additionally, it gives figureheads the chance to voice their feelings on a matter, which is increasingly seen as a more genuine and trusted source, without the manipulation or mediation of press or PRs. Tweeting opens up the dialogue to members of the public, and political parties must remember that many ‘floating’ or ‘undecided’ voters are online, so this could be their chance to swing that crucial vote.
A valid example to highlight is President Obama’s White House campaign. He took the time to participate in approximately 15 social media networking sites during the Presidential race. This demonstrates how important it is nowadays to use all possible tools to help engage with communities, that in many cases outstretch that of traditional communication mechanisms. Some networks have a different profile based upon areas of interest, age and even geographic location. It is critical that social networks are seen as being part of the overall communications strategy, used in conjunction with traditional comms. Forums, wikis, social networking, blogging, micro-blogging, audio podcasts and video clips all have a role to play. Further, these tools exist that allow people to interlink various platforms. For example, if a senior figure at a local authority were to share a tweet, they can then, if appropriate, post the same message to LinkedIn and Facebook accounts and really maximise the number of people that the message reaches.
The recent launch of Data.gov.uk also recognises that UK authorities are taking online delivery seriously, as another key part of the e-transformational agenda for delivering enhanced services for citizens via the web. With any luck, this in turn could help the government and public sector bodies engage with wider audiences that would usually be missed or under-serviced by local and central government, as well as creating a more dynamic, two-way dialogue. If recent statistics from Socitm are a true representation, then there is however, a great risk that large parts of local and central Government will miss these opportunities, as over 60 per cent ban the use of social media tools from their offices.
For a nation that now craves immediate access to information and a quick return on queries, it is essential that authorities nationwide embrace social media techniques. This will reflect our culture in dynamically sharing conversation and data, and taxpayers will be pleased to hear that it makes for a cheaper form of delivery, meaning funds can be put into other areas.
@Dos and don’ts:
Don’t hope it will go away social networking is here to stay (for the immediate future in any case). Social networking fills strong human needs to communicate and develop relationships with others. It also provides a platform for communities of interest to grow.
Do utilise employees’ existing skill sets for social media activities. You will already have within your organisation people who use these tools in their private lives. Leverage that internal experience to help others.
Do review all the functions and responsibilities of running an effective social media campaign, so your organisation or body can engage with the most appropriate members of the public to inform or be informed by.
Do be selective in the outlets you opt for as part of a social media campaign. One size does not fit all and Government and public sector organisations should not use all outlets for the sake of doing so. Evaluate which platforms will allow the organisation to communicate messages most effectively to specific target audiences.
Do use social media integrated alongside traditional marketing and PR activities, rather than necessarily using it as a replacement or some sort of special project. Social media should be a complementary effort for most and used in an effort to assist the delivery of wider messages. It should further open up the opportunity to converse with the public; some people will take longer to use this as their way to access information.
Do set targets and monitor results and Return on Investment (ROI) This could be the total number of ‘followers’ or ‘friends’, number of re-tweets or mentions, visits to a promoted web site page or microsite, it could be numbers of comments or downloads of a report. Remember with social media it is the ‘Word of Mouse’ that is the real value for ROI. The passing of information around the online community without additional effort from you.
Don’t be scared to start internally. Some of the best social media initiatives have been tested internally to obtain the best practice for an organisation. It allows users to understand the logistical mechanisms and decide which sites and platforms suit wider strategies, as well as the ultimate aim of such a campaign.
Don’t leave it to one person to manage. Social media is useful for anyone who has a need to communicate with or listen to an external person or organisation. Leaving the responsibility on one person or department is failing to see the value of open and honest dialogue.
Do use as an effective customer service tool. Social media offers the chance for opinions to be thrown into the public domain, but if acted upon speedily and effectively, citizens can be assisted and a quality service can be openly delivered. A problem can be rectified before it becomes a major issue.
Do issue simple and clear guidelines on employee use of social media within a working environment and integrate into your HR policies. Social media is like any other ‘business tool’ such as a company car, phone or computer – it can be abused or misused. What is different is the public nature of the ‘conversation’.
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