Developed with local authority involvement, LG Inform is the recently launched on-line data and benchmarking service developed by the Local Government Association as part of it’s “Taking the Lead” programme. It builds on the strengths of the esd-toolkit features and maximises the use of the local government information sharing standards - the Local Government Business Model - developed by the sector over the past ten years.
With the prototype LG inform launched in July 2011, we can now provide local authorities and fire and rescue services with access to contextual (e.g. health and demographic data) and performance data covering 850 individual performance measures (or metric-types). A wide variety of important services metrics (e.g. timeliness of care assessments) are offered to authorities enabling local performance to be assessed regionally and nationally across all local authorities.
You can use LG Inform with your esd-toolkit username and password - see the link to the service under the quick links section to the left of the home page screen.
To learn more and to understand the next phases of development - then read on....
Audience
As at 1st may 2012, LG Inform now has a user base of 301 registered authorities with 1,387 registered users.
Usage is increasing for example:
· We are getting over 10,000 visits per month
· 90% of all Counties and 88% of all Mets used the system in the last 60 days.
· English Districts remain the lowest represented target group in terms of number and usage (50%).
· Number of charts and reports built in the system has increased by 30%-40% in last month.
· Our LG Inform KHub group, started in February, has 222 members
We recognise the development of LG Inform must be sector lead and to this end we have always worked closely with a group of ‘Learning Councils’ on specification, design and testing. This original group of 8 authorities and 2 fire services has been extended and we are currently engaging with over 40 Authorities and the Chief Fire officers association (CFOA) directly on the new version. From this group 30 authorities have sent representatives to workshops in April. These authorities are listed in the appendix at the end of this paper.
LG Inform New Version
Currently the LG Inform Prototype allows authorities (including fire and rescue services) to compare their performance against others across England using national metrics from a number of sources. This extended service offered by the new version will help Councils collate and compare their own essential data to gain insights from the results and ensure more rigorous and informed decision-making based on the available evidence.
Through the new version of LG inform we aim to provide an enhanced user experience with:
- A highly responsive and intuitive system
- Opening up LG Inform to the public
- Extending and enhancing the metrics library and data base
- In year and “early sight” data
- High quality outputs in terms of charts, map, tables and reports for reuse online and offline.
- A range of configurable dashboard formats
- Display data according to the access rights of the users.
- Integration with third-party sites
Timetable
LGA Team have engaged Reading Room Ltd to deliver the new version of LG Inform. The chart below highlights current thinking on the project plan.
Get involved
To learn more go to the following link: http://www.local.gov.uk/about-lginform
To participate in the online conversations and to read the high rate of user communications then why not join the LG Inform Knowledge Group on the Knowledge Hub at the following link: https://knowledgehub.local.gov.uk/group/jwusoizshu
With thanks to the following organisations that currently make up our Learning Group:
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Blaby District Council
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council
Devon County Council
Dorset County Council
Durham County Council
East Northamptonshire Council
Essex County Council
Hampshire County Council
Harlow District Council
Horsham District Council
Kent County Council
Kettering Borough Council
Lancashire County Council
London Borough of Barnet
London Borough of Lewisham
London Borough of Wandsworth
Northamptonshire County Council
Nottinghamshire County Council
Oxford City Council
Reading Borough Council
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Somerset County Council
St Albans City and District Council
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Sunderland City Council
Thurrock Council
West Sussex County Council