Annual Communications Update

Andrew Howell – Web Team Manager

Honor Howell – Assistant Director

Sharon Clifton – Communications Manager

Corporate Web Team Update

Andrew Howell – Web Team Manager

Overview of the Web Team

• We manage the Council’s digital estate

• Increased demand for digital services

• Website visits up by 8% on same period in 2017/18

• Awarded maximum 4 stars in Better Connected 2017/18 survey

SOCITM Better Connected 2017/18

BCKLWN Breckland BroadlandGreat

YarmouthNorth Norfolk Norwich City

South Norfolk

Parking (Find out about car parking) 2 star 2 star 2 star 2 star 3 star 4 star 2 star

Waste & recycling (Order a brownbin) 4 star 4 star 2 star 2 star 2 star 2 star 4 star

Council Business (Find out about my councillor) 3 star 3 star 3 star 2 star 3 star 4 star 2 star

Planning (Find out about Local Development Plans) 3 star 2 star 2 star 3 star 4 star 4 star 2 star

Total number of stars for tasks (maximum 16) 12 11 9 9 11 14 10

Tools for accessing content (Navigation, A to Z, Search) 4 star 3 star 3 star 2 star 2 star 3 star 1 star

Accessibility Pass Fail Pass Fail Pass Fail Fail

SOCITM Better Connected 2017/18

• The only district council in Norfolk to get the highest rating. Norfolk County Council also got 4 stars

• One of five in the Eastern region (Central Beds, Hertfordshire CC, Huntingdonshire)

• One of only 42 councils out of 414 UK councils to score 4 stars

• Top 10% of UK local authority websites

Increased digital take up – Submitted formsMonth 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19

April 547 1,700 2,183

May 548 1,785 3,551

June 630 2,236 3,264

July 882 2,147 3,433

August 1,127 2,295 3,381

September 1,473 2,385 3,604

October 1,491 2,479 3,564

November 1,507 2,485

December 1,207 1,866

January 1,846 3,158

February 1,760 2,295

March 2,513 2,876

Totals 15,531 27,707 22,980

% Change 78% increase 53% increase

New developments

• Technical support for projects such as taxi driver licensing, Revenues OpenPORTAL & GDPR

• Online registration for events such as Classic Car and Soapbox Derby

• New website for Stories of Lynn

• Major upgrade work and security improvements

New developments – Automated reports

• Automated publication of back office registers:

� Saves officer time

� Ensures information always up to date

� Meet our legal obligations

Future developments - Step by step guides

• Further improvements to our website content:

� Help explain complicated processes

� Help customers to understand where they are and what to do next

� Based upon GOV.UK standards

Future developments

• Improvements to online mapping for areas such as MyNearest, Local Plan and boundary review

• New websites for Working in West Norfolk and Love West Norfolk

• Re-design of homepage and mobile layout

• New accessibility guidelines released

Council Information Centre & Digital Services

Honor Howell – Assistant Director

Overview

• We continue to develop and evolve our services to encourage take up of digital services

• DWP moved into King’s Court in March 2018 – Partnership working

• Preparing for the launch of Universal Credit which went live on 14th

November

• We are investigating replacing the Contact Centre technology to encompass ‘multi media’ contact channels

• We lead on the development of digital services for Licensing and other online forms

Telephone Contact Volumes - Benefits

-

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

16/17 17/18 18/19

Telephone Contact Volumes – Council Tax

-

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

16/17 17/18 18/19

Telephone Contact Volumes – Environmental Health

-

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19

Telephone Contact Volumes – Housing

-

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

16/17 17/18 18/19

Telephone Contact Volumes – Planning & Licensing

-

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

Month Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19

MyAccount (OneVu)

• Continued development of MyAccount

• Revenues and Benefits moving to a separate Civica system ‘Open Portal’ so customers will no longer use OneVu for these enquiries or the forms we have developed. New forms will be introduced

• ‘Uncoupling’ processes has now begun

• Customer journey planning will be key to ensure we make it as straightforward as possible

• Strengthening other areas within MyAccount

MyAccount Take Up

• 19,886 accounts opened to date

• 46% of accounts created out of hours

8.11%

24.71%

19.74%

19.12%

14.48%

11.25%

2.57%

15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ Unknown

Licensing – MyAccount Service

• We have developed online application forms for most licensing services

• Customers can now apply and/or renew their taxi licences through MyAccount and view information on their licence following authentication

• Data transfers directly into the iDox system so no duplication of effort

Taxi Licensing

What’s Next?• Work on the implementation of the ‘Open Portal’ system and ensure

it compliments the MyAccount service. Wish to retain the look and feel of MyAccount

• More e-form development – bulky waste ordering and payment, mapping services and further integration

• Leisure changes – will have a considerable impact on our service (Payments, Legend)

• Monitor the impact of Universal Credit and work with housing and other services to assist customers with the changes

• Continue to provide excellent customer service to the residents, visitors and businesses within the borough

Communications Update

Sharon Clifton – Communications Manager

A year of consolidation

• Last year we launched a new digital newsroom, weekly digital newsletter and news and events Facebook page – so no new initiatives this year

• We have provided communications numerous council projects and initiatives – more projects than ever this year

• We have continued to explore video, animation and geofilters to increase engagement, awareness and understanding – more on this later

Digital newsroom

Media relations

• We have issued between 3 and 4 releases each week

• We have handled approximately 20 media enquiries each month

• Organised briefings, photo calls and launches

Media relations (continued)

• This activity has resulted in 2,321 items of coverage in local media– 74% neutral (up from 70% last year)

– 10% positive (down from 14% last year)

– 13% (general interest articles monitored by no mention of us)

– 3% negative

• Events, public open space, Civics and Regeneration programmes account for the majority of positive stories.

• Perversely, regeneration programmes, public open space car parking and planning control account for the majority of the negative stories too.

Media relations (continued)

• Feature articles are becoming a more effective tool than traditional releases

Other activities

• Web copy – Hanse Festival, Invest in West Norfolk

• Prospectus and promotional materials for Nelson Quay, Nar Ouse Business Park

• Comment pieces – business supplement etc

• Support for major projects – One Public Estate, HunstantonSouthern Seafront, Riverfront, Channel Shift, Major Housing, Fields in Trust etc, Leisure Trust, Guildhall, RAF100, WW1 centenary, In Bloom, THI, Reveal.

Social media

• Since opening our Twitter account July 2010 we have gained 6000 followers

• From November 2017 to 31 October 2018 we have posted 1239 tweets

• Those tweets have gained 991,500 impressions

• Top tweets – Pride, Control Room week, Love West Norfolk (Stephen Fry, and peat on the beach

Social media (continued)

• Created borough council Facebook page in June 2017

• We have 1516 likes and 1591 followers – 5 times the numbers reported this time last year.

• Over the past 12 months the focus has been on increasing engagement.

• The handout provides some information – events are clearly the success story for engagement.

https://www.youtube.com/user/

WestNorfolkBC/videos

Social media (continued)

• We developed a geofilter for SnapChat to be used in The Walks during our firework display. This included our logo to ensure people knew who had organised the event.

• For an investment of £23 awareness was raised with tens of thousands of views.

Work plan

Coming up

• Elections and post election training

• Review social media guidelines

• Support and assist other staff members who are establishing a social media presence – LILY, Town Hall, Stories of Lynn, Invest in West Norfolk and others

• A focus on internal communications

Thank you

Any questions?