Bookmark us at esd.org.uk/informingcitizens

Introduction

Chapter 3 of the 2008 Community Empowerment White Paper - Communities in control: real people, real power set out the case for improving citizens' access to, and use of, information on local services and performance. CLG is taking this forward through its Timely Information for Citizens project. The aim of the project is to:

• Establish a body of good practice for the effective provision by local authorities of timely information on local services and performance to their citizens.
• Evaluate innovative new approaches to informing citizens through piloting with local authorities
• Through the IDeA, RIEPs and other support organisations, develop a programme of activities to support the spread of good practice among local authorities.

January 2010: Download a report on the current status of an evaluation of projects piloting new approaches.

Research into good practice

CLG has commissioned two pieces of research to help establish a body of good practice techniques:

0. A literature review to identify and extract good practice lessons from both published and unpublished research, case studies and evaluations of both UK and international examples. The review looks at which approaches to selecting, presenting and disseminating information have the greatest impact on citizens' actual and perceived empowerment.
0. A series of workshops with local authorities and other stakeholders to evaluate current local authority information provision, especially where they are using new and innovative approaches. The aim was to establish and report on their experiences of how effective their practices are at meeting citizens' needs.

You can access the results of this research in the Good Practice Wiki 

Local Authority Pilots

Following on from the research, we are working with local authorities to augment the body of good practice through piloting a range of innovative approaches to sharing information with citizens, community groups and with third parties.

The aim of pilots is to establish which new and untested approaches to informing citizens are effective and efficient at doing so and are worthy of wider consideration by local authorities. Successful pilots will act as exemplars, and their evaluation results will feed into the good practice guidance and toolkits for use by local authorities.

20 local pilot projects have been funded.  Further information on the pilots can be found here: http://www.esd.org.uk/esdtoolkit/Communities/InformingCitizens/ContentView.aspx?ContentType=Content-416

Activities to support the spread of good practice

We are working with Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands to share the learning and good practice from the pilots.  A number of networking events for pilots have already been held.  We also aim to produce sector-led light-touch guidance and good practice case studies on effective communication of local data.

More information about this project can be obtained from:

Rachel Moreton

Local Public Data Unit

Communities and Local Government

0303 444 2261

rachel.moreton@communities.gsi.gov.uk