[This page is retained for information only.  Funding for pilot projects has now been distributed.] 

Introduction

The Timely Information to Citizens project team at CLG is inviting local authorities in England to submit funding proposals for innovative pilot projects to provide better local information to citizens.

This project has been set up to deliver on the government commitment in Chapter 3 of the recent White Paper: Communities in control: real people, real power, to improve citizens’ access to information on local services and performance, in order to empower them to hold local service providers to account.

We would like to fund around 10 projects, to test out innovative approaches and techniques which will advance our knowledge of good practice and act as exemplars to other authorities. This will complement the research we have already commissioned to draw out good practice principles from current local authority activity and help the development of a good practice toolkit, which we will work with local government to promote in 2009 and beyond.

We have around £420,000 available in 2008-09 and approximately a further £500,000 in 2009-10 to fund a mixture of capital and revenue projects. The deadline for 2008-09 funding is 30 January 2009 but, if this is too soon for your authority to develop a bid, there is a second deadline of 27 February 2009 for funding in 2009-10.

This is an exciting time to be doing this work, with recent advances in internet technology in particular providing many opportunities to inform citizens in ways which are more useful and accessible. The guidance attached below contains much more information on the sorts of projects we are looking to fund, the criteria for funding, how to apply and who to contact for more information. Keep a look out also for the new good practice forum which will be up and running on www.esd.org.uk shortly.

Piloting innovative approaches to sharing information with citizens: the Timely Information for Citizens project

On 9 July 2008 the government launched the White Paper, Communities in control: real people, real power. Chapter 3 of the White Paper set out the case for improving citizens’ access to, and use of, information on local services and performance, to empower them to hold local service providers to account.


Government – both local and national – holds and publishes a huge amount of data but too little of it is presented in a usable, accessible way which focuses on local places and empowers citizens. Moreover, what is published is often “authorised” but out of date – while up to date, useful local data, relevant to citizens’ needs may be seen as “draft” or “interim” and therefore not made available.

CLG wants to address this through the Timely Information for Citizens project, which aims to support local authorities, whether alone or in partnership with other local service providers or community organisations, to provide their citizens with:

• operational information which sets out what and how services are provided to help people to access the services they want
• up to date performance information which sets out how well the local agencies are actually providing services against benchmarks, agreed standards/targets, indicators or other published plans enabling citizens to assess or comment on the services they have received or paid for through taxation
• individual information which enables a citizen who has actively engaged with a service, either by making a request or making a complaint to track the progress on the provider’s response
• information on engagement and challenge which clearly sets out how citizens can challenge poor performance, become involved in decision making, seek redress or ultimately run the service themselves

The focus is on information which can and should be publicly available, and on ensuring that this is presented in a way which is timely, relevant and accessible. This project is not about the sharing or release of personal data under the protection of the Data Protection Act.

Project objectives

Some authorities are already developing innovative approaches in this field, but our research tells us that the current practice varies between authorities on the types, extent and quality of information provided, the dissemination methods used, and the aim of information provision. There is also a lack of knowledge about the different techniques used by authorities and how effective they are, which represents a missed opportunity for peer learning. To address both of these issues, the project will:

0. Facilitate the sector-led development of a comprehensive directory of good practice information on the effective provision of timely information by local authorities to their citizens.
   This will include advice and case studies about what works, in which situations, and for which types of information, to help citizens to feel like they are in control and able to hold service providers to account. To help get this off the ground we have commissioned two pieces of research, both due to report in December. These are; (i) a literature review to identify and extract good practice lessons from previous research and case studies, including any evaluation that has been done, and; (ii) a series of regional workshops, to draw on the current experience of a range of local authorities and their stakeholders, of how effective existing local authority practices are at meeting communities’ information needs. The intention is to develop the good practice through a new forum which will be available shortly at www.esd.org.uk.
0. Support the spread of good practice
   This will be done by developing, with the LGA, IDeA, REPs and RIEPs, a programme of activities to build capacity and promote the take-up of good practice approaches among local authorities. This will make use of existing opportunities for promoting good practice (such as by linking to the CDF website) as well as the development of new tools such as sector-produced and maintained guidance and a web portal or forum for exchanging information.
0. Pilot new approaches to informing citizens
   In addition, we would like to work with local authorities to run a series of pilot projects, to develop and test innovative approaches to providing better, more relevant and more timely information to citizens. The pilots will help to extend good practice knowledge by establishing which new approaches are most effective and worthy of wider consideration. Successful pilots will also act as exemplars to other authorities, and their evaluation results will feed into the good practice guidance and toolkits.

The Timely Information Pilots scheme

It is important to the success of the overall project that the pilots help to push forward the boundaries of innovation and knowledge on good practice in providing information to citizens; thus most of the pilots are likely to be in those authorities which are already developing their information provision and therefore may be interested in exploring particular themes, or are otherwise exemplars of good empowerment practice, such as the Network of Empowering Authorities.

We hope that involvement in the pilot programme will help local authorities to deliver progress on National Indicator 4 – the percentage of people who feel they can influence decisions in their locality. In addition, it may also help authorities to deliver improvement to indicators in the service areas to which the improved information provision relates; and all authorities, not just those involved, will benefit from the peer advice and good practice guidance which will emerge from the Timely Information to Citizens project.

The role of technology and the reuse of information

The use of new technology is becoming increasingly important as a way of both disseminating information and of making better use of it, by bringing different
information sources together with geographical information in innovative ways to create powerful new tools for citizens. While this can be done by local authorities themselves, some of the best current examples have come about as a result of others – private or third sector organisations, or simply interested individuals – reusing information that they find to solve a problem or answer a question. Enabling this to happen requires a strong commitment, from local authorities and other service providers, to making as much as possible of their information freely available for re-use by themselves and others – something we would like to encourage. Annex A contains more information and advice on both the potential of new technology, and the necessity of making local information more freely available.

However, it should be remembered that the ultimate aim of doing freeing up information is to drive improvement in local areas and services – making authorities more accountable to their citizens and more open to challenge. It is therefore important that such information, for example on crime or schools, is not only used and acted upon by those who are best placed to take advantage of it, thereby exacerbating segregation and social divides, but is able to be used to the advantage of all citizens.

There will always be a need to combine technological approaches with more traditional techniques to ensure that all citizens have access to information, regardless of their access to technology or their ability or willingness to use new media. But also, authorities will need to ensure that they make best use of this information themselves, to drive improvement, reduce inequalities and improve services to disadvantaged groups. As is set out in the bidding and selection process below, proposals will need to set out how they will address equality and diversity issues, including on the ability or capacity of disadvantaged groups to access and act upon information.

Potential pilot projects

We are therefore interested in both technological and non-technological projects, and those which combine the two to make the benefits of technology available to all citizens. But for all proposals, a commitment to making information more freely available will be important – without this, the capacity to empower with information is limited.

Thus, areas which could be explored by pilot projects include looking at different aspects of information provision, such as:

• use of new media and channels of information
• innovative use of graphical and geographical information
• innovative ways of engaging citizens with traditional media
• provision of new/innovative types of information

Other possibilities include:

• How best to tackle information provision in two-tier areas, and across organisational boundaries
• Testing the practicalities of implementing better information provision, as well as exploring the benefits
• How to make existing information and performance management tools more accessible, relevant and useful (for example, some authorities are exploring ways of providing users of housing support services with information on the quality of the services they receive, so they can judge them against a locally agreed Charter for Independent Living, and funding has been set aside in 2008-09 specifically to fund a pilot looking at this).

Links to the wider empowerment programme

The Timely Information project, including this pilot scheme, forms one part of a series of measures which, together, aim to help local authorities to increase the engagement and empowerment of their citizens. The focus of this project is therefore solely on the provision of information – other projects, many of which also involve working with local authorities, are looking at other aspects of empowerment. Please see Annex B for more information on some of these.

Links are also being developed between this project and others within CLG which aim to improve the way information is used and managed by local authorities – for example on improving local information systems and better use of performance information.