Local e-Government and Social Inclusion - CORE · PDF fileLocal e-Government and Social Inclusion Moving from a digital divide to social inclusion in 2003 and 2004 ... Professor Simon

Local e-Government and Social Inclusion Moving from a digital divide to social inclusion in 2003 and 2004

www.communities.gov.ukcommunity, opportunity, prosperity

Local e-Government and Social Inclusion Moving from a digital divide to social inclusion in 2003 and 2004

March 2008Communities and Local Government: London

Department for Communities and Local GovernmentEland HouseBressenden PlaceLondon SW1E 5DUTelephone: 020 7944 4400Website: www.communities.gov.uk

© Crown Copyright 2008

Copyright in the typographical arrangement rests with the Crown.

This publication, excluding logos, may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium for research, private study or for internal circulation within an organisation. This is subject to it being reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown Copyright and the title of the publication specified.

Any other use of the contents of this publication would require a copyright licence. Please apply for a Click-Use Licence for core material at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/system/online/pLogin.asp or by writing to the Office of Public Sector Information, Information Policy Team, St Clements House, 2-16 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ. Fax: 01603 723000 or email: [email protected].

If you require this publication in an alternative format please email [email protected]

Communities and Local Government PublicationsPO Box 236WetherbyWest YorkshireLS23 7NBTel: 0870 1226 236Fax: 0870 1226 237Textphone: 0870 1207 405Email: [email protected] online via the Communities and Local Government website: www.communities.gov.uk

March 2008

Product Code: 07 LGSR 04981

Local e-Government and Social Inclusion | 3

Contents

Foreword 6

Acknowledgements 7

Executive Summary 8 Introduction 8 Context 8 Methodology 9 The Strategic Role of Local Authorities 10 Enabling Social Inclusion through ICT 11 Tailoring Services to Socially Excluded Groups: Using ICT to the Best Advantage 12 Outcomes 13 Bringing It All Together 15 Key Conclusions and Recommendations 15

Introduction 17 1.1 Context 17 1.2 Aims 18 1.3 Approach 18 1.4 Readership 20 1.5 Structure of the Report 20

National Policy Framework 22 2.1 Introduction 22 2.2 Tackling the Digital Divide 22 2.3 Local E-Government 23 2.4 Social Inclusion 25 2.5 Neighbourhood Renewal 26 2.6 Broader Policy Framework 26 2.7 Moving Forward 27

Social Inclusion and ICT 28 3.1 Introduction 28 3.2 Nature of the Digital Divide and Policy Implications 29 3.3 ICT and Social Exclusion 29 3.4 Social Exclusion 30 3.5 Characteristics of the Digital Divide 30 3.6 Impact of Policies for Tackling the Digital Divide 31 3.7 Policy Intervention Framework 32 3.8 ICT Adoption and Policy Intervention Framework 34

3.9 Benefits of ICT 35 3.10 Role of Local Authorities 35 3.11 Bringing It All Together 36

Local Authorities as Strategic Enablers 38 4.1 Introduction 38 4.2 Strategic Enabling Context 38 4.3 Overview of Strategic Enabling 42 4.4 Leadership 43 4.5 Policy and Strategy 45 4.6 Partnerships and Resources 46 4.7 People 48

Awareness, Access and Skills & Training 49 5.1 Introduction 49 5.2 Promoting Awareness 50 5.3 Highlighting the Social Value of Projects 50 5.4 Dissemination and Publicity 51 5.5 ‘Marketing by Stealth’ 52 5.6 Managing Expectations 53 5.7 Encouraging Access 53 5.8 Diversity of Access 54 5.9 Customer-Centred Approach 55 5.10 Appropriate Design of Facilities and Infrastructure 56 5.11 Balancing Technology and User Requirements 57 5.12 Developing Skills and Training 57 5.13 ‘Learning by Stealth’ 58 5.14 Support for Users 58 5.15 Community Volunteers 59

Developing a User Perspective 60 6.1 Introduction 60 6.2 Collaborative Approach 62 6.3 Community and User Involvement 65 6.4 Involving and Helping Potential Users 67

Monitoring and Evaluation 71 7.1 Introduction 71 7.2 Outputs 72 7.3 Outcomes 73 7.4 Taking Evaluation Forward and Lesson Learning 75

4 | Local e-Government and Social Inclusion

Local e-Government and Social Inclusion | �

Bringing it all Together 77 8.1 Introduction 77 8.2 Framework 77 8.3 Integrating Policy and Delivery 82

Conclusions and Recommendations 83

References 86

List of Figures

Figure 1: The Policy Intervention Framework Feedback Loop 34

Figure 2: Overall Framework: Components for bringing 37 together Local e-Government Projects and Strategies for promoting Social Inclusion

Figure 3: Elements of Strategic Enabling 42

Figure 4: Challenges in Designing and Delivering Projects 49 for tackling Social Exclusion through ICT

Figure 5: Information Sought by Internet and Non-Internet 61 Users

Figure 6: Overall Framework: Components for bringing 78 together Local E-Government Projects and Strategies for promoting Social Inclusion

� | Local e-Government and Social Inclusion

ForewordThis study reports on best practice among local authorities in England in 2003 and 2004. It draws primarily on the experience of Beacon Councils under round four of the programme on the theme of ‘social inclusion through ICT’. The local e-government programme formally closed in April 2006 following the successful achievement of the national target of councils offering all services online by the end of 2005.

The Government has taken forward the social inclusion and information communications technology (ICT) agenda through a number of policies and initiatives. It, firstly, launched the ‘digital challenge’ programme in 2005–06 (see http://www.digitalchallenge.gov.uk/). This centred on creating a world class exemplar of a ‘wired up community’. The winner of the competition was Sunderland, which was one of the successful round four Beacon Councils and is featured in this study. Its proposal focuses on empowering communities and individuals through ICT. Each of the other nine national finalists in the programme is taking forward their proposals – many of which centre on tackling social exclusion through ICT. Secondly, the Treasury and Cabinet Office ‘invest to save’ programme (see http://www.isb.gov.uk/) has continued to include a focus on the use of ICT to improve capacity to deliver services in a more joined-up manner. A number of projects featured in this study (e.g. Welland Partnership) have made use of this funding stream to tackle social exclusion through ICT. Thirdly, the Local Government White Paper published in October 2006 (see http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/about/future-local-government) and the Lyons Review (see http://www.webarchive.org.uk/pan/15454/20070428/www.lyonsinquiry.org.uk/index.html) both emphasise the role of councils as strategic enablers and place shapers. The White Paper highlights that local authorities (such as Lewisham and Newham) are using ICT to improve ‘responsiveness to local needs’. Finally, and most importantly, the national transformational government programme launched in 2005 has identified a series of challenges for councils in utilising cutting edge ICT (see http://www.cio.gov.uk/transformational_government/localgovt/index.asp). These include designing services around the needs of citizens. The emphasis is on engaging with users, reshaping service delivery and making it happen. Each of these themes is emphasised in this study.

Dr. Tim Brown October 2007

http://www.digitalchallenge.gov.uk/

http://www.isb.gov.uk/

http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/about/future-local-government


http://www.webarchive.org.uk/pan/15454/20070428/www.lyonsinquiry.org.uk/index.html


http://www.cio.gov.uk/transformational_government/localgovt/index.asp


Acknowledgements The report author wishes to thank the members of the multi-disciplinary research team at De Montfort University for their contribution to the project:

Dr Ben Fairweather Professor Paul Foley Ros Lishman Dr Jo Richardson Professor Simon Rogerson

In addition, the author would like to thank staff at Communities and Local Government for their support especially Dan Howard for ensuring publication.

Special thanks also to advisory group members that contributed their time and enthusiasm for supporting the study especially Nic Streatfeild and Nicola Yates.

� | Local e-Government and Social Inclusion

Executive Summary

Introduction

This study investigates how local authorities are using e-government to respond to the needs of the socially excluded and in doing so contribute to the development of a more inclusive society. It highlights that councils have a major strategic enabling role in promoting e-government as an important vehicle for tackling social exclusion. This strategic role involves a number of dimensions:

• taking the lead in collaborative working with other partners including local communities

• co-ordinating and developing local policy planning on ICT and social inclusion through community strategies and local strategic partnerships

• helping to develop and deliver ICT projects and schemes that make a positive difference to socially excluded groups and communities

A wide range of initiatives resourced through a variety of funding streams have been developed by local authorities and their partners to promote social inclusion through e-government. More specifically the study provides:

• examples of innovation and good practice in the use of ICT to promote social inclusion

• ways in which local authorities are overcoming barriers to ICT use among ‘hard-to-reach’ groups

• what needs to be done at national and local levels to more effectively achieve social inclusion through ICT

Context

E-Government is not an end in itself. Instead it is a means to improve public services and the quality of life for the customer and the community. The National Strategy for Local E-Government has been instrumental in helping to deliver the target of “100% capability in electronic delivery of priority services by the end of 2005 in ways that customers will use”1. Beyond 2005, the focus is on embedding e-government within the mainstream agenda for local services so that it makes a real difference to people’s lives through the transformational government programme. An important step forward is making the connections between local e-government and achieving social inclusion. For example, the Social Exclusion Unit has been undertaking a project on ‘inclusion through innovation’, which is examining how ICT can be used to tackle disadvantage. The National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal has the key aim of significantly reducing the gap between the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the country by 2010 in relation to employment and skills, health, crime and

1 ODPM (2002): National Strategy for Local E-Government; London, ODPM. p. 5.


housing and the physical environment. Local e-government has an important role to play in meeting this target.

ICT can contribute to social inclusion but potentially may reinforce social exclusion. For example, the quality of life for frail older people can be enhanced through telecare ie bringing health and social care to users in their own home through ICT. But, over 80 per cent of people in the 65+ age group in the first quarter of 2006 have never used the Internet2, even though there have been many targeted ‘silver surfer’ projects aimed at raising awareness and usage of ICT among older people. Of course, some aspects of telecare can be delivered by providers with little if any on-going active involvement by users. However, the quality of services is enhanced if customers are empowered to take a proactive approach in helping their design and delivery.

More generally, policy makers and the media frequently discuss the ‘digital divide’. It refers to the disparity between those who have use of and access to ICT and those that do not. In the first quarter of 2006, 57 per cent of households had access to the Internet at home compared to fewer than 10 per cent for the same quarter in 1998, and 40 per cent of households were estimated to have broadband Internet access in early 2006 compared to 28 per cent in early 2005.3

Overall, the relationship between social exclusion and the digital divide can be summed up as follows:

“The digital divide is not digital; it’s the social and economic divide which is reinforced by technologies that exacerbate the potential to exclude people.”4

In order to tackle the digital divide, local authorities and their partners should:

• ensure that their local e-government champions are aware of the changing nature of the digital divide and its relationship to social exclusion

• ‘proof’ ICT projects and policies so that they do not directly or indirectly reinforce existing patterns of social exclusion

• develop specific ICT schemes that benefit socially excluded households and communities

Methodology

This study involved two major elements – a literature review and case studies with 11 local authorities involving a mix of use of secondary sources and interviews with key stakeholders.

The study was carried out by an inter-disciplinary team of staff at De Montfort University, Leicester, from the Department of Public Policy, the Department of Strategy and Management and the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility in the School of Computing.

2 National Statistics: Internet Access – Households and Individuals: August 2006. 3 National Statistics: Internet Access – Households and Individuals: August 2006.4 Interview with Kate Oakley (Director, Local Futures) as quoted in Commission for Rural Communities (2005): Beyond Digital

Divides?: Cheltenham, CRC.


The Strategic Role of Local Authorities

Although considerable emphasis in the study has been on individual projects as a means of achieving social inclusion through ICT, the role of local authorities as strategic enablers and community leaders is pivotal in facilitating specific projects as well as ensuring joined-up thinking.

The key aspects are:

• Leadership

• Policy and strategy

• Partnerships and resources

• People

From a leadership perspective, the championing role of lead members and staff is critical. Also of significance is the co-ordinating and enabling activities that stem from community leadership through, for instance, local strategic partnerships.

Developing a strategic framework is essential. Overall, it is important to link social inclusion and e-government into the council’s broader community plan and strategy. This involves bringing together the relevant local policy plans such as implementing electronic government (IEG) statements, social exclusion policies, economic development strategies and supporting people plans. At a neighbourhood level, it needs to focus on co-ordinating the wide range of area-based initiatives. A strategic framework enables local authorities and their partners to more adequately identify and respond flexibly to:

• ICT infrastructure requirements

• potential nature and scope of pilot projects

• user and community needs

• changing external environment on funding for ICT

A balance has to be achieved between a pragmatic and opportunistic response and a long term vision for using ICT to promote social inclusion.

Partnerships involving a multi-agency approach can utilise the skills, expertise and resources of a wide range of organisations. This is particularly important for ensuring continuity and the development of an exit strategy for projects that have been externally funded for a time-limited period. Similarly, partnership working can help to create an innovative and entrepreneurial culture where organisations jointly take an outward rather than inward-looking approach in identifying new opportunities for resourcing specific projects.

The People dimension focuses on a range of issues including:

• bringing together an appropriate blend of skills and expertise at the strategic and project levels eg

– technical awareness


– community involvement

– managing change

– partnership working

• encouraging and facilitating user and community participation

• leadership and championing role (see above)

The strategic enabling role of local authorities provides the framework for facilitating specific initiatives, which are discussed in the next section.

Enabling Social Inclusion through ICT

In designing and delivering projects for tackling social exclusion through ICT, there are three key themes that need to be addressed:

• Awareness – ensuring that households and communities have an appreciation of the potential of ICT to improve their quality of life ie challenging the consistently held view by over 50 per cent of non-users of the Internet that they have no need for and/or no interest in ICT

• Access – tackling the interrelated factors of a lack of ICT facilities/Internet connections and their cost

• Skills and training – providing households and communities with the appropriate expertise and knowledge to maximise their use of ICT

Local authorities and their partners can act as enablers by, for example:

• Promoting Awareness

– highlighting the social value of projects ie the positive difference to everyday/commonplace activities – examples include promoting the Internet as a means of keeping in touch with family and friends anywhere in the world

– disseminating and publicising the benefits to a wider community – for instance, highlighting the relevance of village or neighbourhood websites to adjoining areas

– ‘marketing by stealth’ through encouraging local people to emphasise the benefits and by making use of ‘good news’ stories such as jobs obtained through use of an online service

– managing expectations ie adopting a realistic perspective as to what can and cannot be done – for example, finding out about housing options through local authority and housing association websites but appreciating that this does not overcome issues such as a shortage of suitable properties


• Encouraging Access

– ensuring that there is a diverse range of ICT access points and opening hours including evenings and weekends

– customer-focused approach for assisted and unassisted access for the use of equipment that avoids forms and a sequence of ‘qualifications’

– pleasant well-designed environment and infrastructure with access points conveniently located in multi-purpose/use centres such as community buildings

– user-centred rather than technology-orientated facilities

• Developing Skills and Training

– ‘learning by stealth’ ie through use of ICT for hobbies and everyday activities rather than structured and formalised training programmes

– assisted support for users as and when they need it

– making use of community volunteers as trainers – ‘people like us’

Tailoring Services to Socially Excluded Groups: Using ICT to the Best Advantage

Awareness, access and skills and training provide the framework for enabling socially excluded individuals, households and communities to benefit from ICT. But if local e-government is going to contribute to achieving social inclusion, it is essential to identify services that are of importance to excluded households and communities.

• Benefits: This involves a wide range of services delivered by Government departments as well as local authorities. It is also likely to require the input of voluntary sector advice agencies such as citizens advice bureaux (CABs). Local authorities can take a lead role in developing joined-up thinking by collaborating with a wide range of agencies to provide advice and support services on benefits through call centres and websites

• Government and council services: There are a number of elements of improving information availability through e-services including:

– Developing websites that focus on customer/user perspectives rather than the needs of the organisation eg making more use of ‘life episodes’ as a way of structuring information

– Ensuring that there is consistency in the scale and quality of information about each service irrespective of the provider and the mode of access (ie call centre, website and one-stop shop)

– Making use of customer relationship management software to ensure that advice and support is targeted on the needs of individuals and communities


• Training and education: There are a wide range of public, private and voluntary sector agencies involved in the provision of education and training. County councils and unitary authorities (especially through their leading role in local strategic partnerships) have a pivotal role in bringing together and co-ordinating these programmes so enabling customers to have a single one-stop point of access through, for example, a website

• Local events: Neighbourhood and community portals are one way in which local events can be publicised. It benefits both organisers as well as the local community

A key message is the importance of the development and delivery of e-services around the needs of the user rather than an organisation. Each of the service areas listed above involves a wide range of agencies. Local authorities in their strategic enabling role should take the lead in encouraging joined-up thinking through the development and delivery of a single point of access.

Outcomes

Evaluation of local e-government projects is essential if councils are to develop the capacity for ‘lesson learning’. Firstly, it is important to be able to find out what works and why. Secondly, if a project has not been successful, it is essential to understand the reasons and to modify it so that the desired outputs and outcomes are realised.

The evaluative emphasis in the vast majority of projects has been on outputs ie delivering projects on time and within the resource envelope. There are important lessons to be learnt on, for example, having dedicated staff, taking a project management approach and utilising skills and expertise of private and voluntary sector partners.

However, there has been relatively little attempt to monitor and evaluate outcomes ie what substantive difference has a project made and can the effects be attributed to its impact? The interrelated reasons for the lack of outcome evaluation include:

• external funding being often tied to the delivery of project within budget and to a fixed timescale ie outputs rather than outcomes

• failure to build in at the planning and initiation stages pre and post project evaluation so that before and after comparisons can be drawn out

• undertaking robust evaluation where the outcomes from a project can be identified separately from the impact of other schemes and factors


In the few cases, where evaluation has taken place on outcomes, the focus has been on short-term immediate effects with an emphasis on quantitative outcomes such as the proportion of households who make regular use of the Internet. But there is also a need for a qualitative approach that investigates, for instance, why people are now making use of ICT. It is vital to find out in a robust way how local projects have made a difference from a user perspective.

High quality outcome evaluation should go side-by-side with output studies, so that lessons can be learnt about what works and why. This will help to facilitate policy transfer and the dissemination of best practice to other local authorities and their partners.

Local e-Government and Social Inclusion | 1�

Bringing It All Together

A number of councils are succeeding in making a positive difference in tackling social exclusion through ICT by bringing together and moving towards:

• enhanced strategic enabling and community leadership roles

• a focus on project outcomes as well as outputs

• the identification of appropriate and relevant e-services

• an emphasis on awareness, access, and skills and training

Local authorities and their partners may well find this framework helpful in thinking strategically about the relationship between local e-government and social inclusion.

Key Conclusions and Recommendations

• There are a wide ranging and ever-increasing number of specific innovative initiatives being developed by local authorities and their partners to tackle social exclusion through ICT

• Some local authorities are making significant additional progress by joining up specific initiatives and different national and regional funding streams – a multiplier effect

• The strategic enabling and community leadership roles of local government are crucial in building partnership working between public, private and voluntary sector agencies in achieving social inclusion through ICT

• Sub-regional partnerships and working arrangements are an important way forward in areas where there is a two tier structure of local government – small district councils are unlikely to have the capacity, resources and responsibilities to adequately address social exclusion and ICT issues in a comprehensive co-ordinated manner

• There is no readily accessible single database on innovative e-government projects for tackling social exclusion. There is an increasing danger of local authorities ‘reinventing the wheel’ and national and regional funders resourcing similar overlapping and duplicate projects

• ‘Lesson learning‘ and ‘policy diffusion’ is developing particularly through the dissemination of information by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and Beacon authorities. Local authorities and their partners in the development and delivery of new initiatives are encountering similar problems that can be more effectively tackled by making use of what works elsewhere

1� | Local e-Government and Social Inclusion

• Thematic reviews of a small number of successful (and unsuccessful) projects could identify characteristics that lead to success and common problems and solutions. These reviews could usefully focus on, for example, community portals, public access points, ‘silver surfers’, and the needs of disadvantaged black and minority ethnic communities

• These reviews should carefully examine factors such as costs, operating structures, development, delivery, timescale, perceived and actual benefits, and returns

• Dissemination of the results of these reviews would enable local authorities to fast track progress on developing and delivering ICT initiatives to promote social inclusion. Councils and their partners would be more fully aware of the benefits and challenges of such initiatives


Introduction

1.1 Context

The Government is committed to promoting joined-up thinking between local e-government and achieving social inclusion. The national strategy for neighbourhood renewal has a target of significantly reducing the gap between the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the country by 2010 on employment and skills, health, crime and housing and the physical environment. Councils, through their e-government policy, have a vital role to play in helping to meet this target.

The national strategy for local e-government5 highlighted that significant progress had been made with local authorities confident that they would achieve the target of “100% capability in electronic delivery of priority services by the end of 2005 in ways that customers will use”. These 10 priority services areas included ones that are of direct specific relevance for tackling social exclusion eg benefits and support for vulnerable people. They also comprised more general areas such as accessibility of services and community information that have particular application for promoting social inclusion. The e-Innovation programme had ‘bridging the digital divide’ as one of its themes in 2004–05. Specific projects within this theme included a ‘digital learning community’ in the East Riding that aimed to help children and adults access education and training in scattered rural communities, and a neighbourhood empowerment initiative in Preston that involved taking technology into the community so that it was developed to reflect local needs. There have been, in addition a number of the 26 national projects that directly focus on tackling social exclusion. The RYOGENS Project (Reducing Youth Offending Generic National Solutions) has been aimed at tackling crime and anti-social behaviour as well as supporting vulnerable young people. ENCORE (Environment and Community Online Residents’ E-Services) has centred on making environmental information easy to find.

Nevertheless, there has not, until recently, been a specific focus on local e-government and social inclusion. A number of initiatives are now taking this agenda forward. For example, the Social Exclusion Unit has been undertaking a project on ‘inclusion through innovation’, which is examining how information communications technology (ICT) can be used to tackle disadvantage. This study is intended to make a major contribution by directly focusing on the relationship between local e-government and promoting social inclusion.

5 ODPM (2002): National Strategy for Local E-Government: London, ODPM. p. 5.


1.2 Aims

The study has three primary aims and these are to:

• provide a range of detailed examples of innovative good practice developed by local authorities in using ICT to promote social inclusion

• review how local authorities are overcoming barriers to the use of ICT in engaging ‘hard-to-reach’ groups

• consider the changes and inputs that are necessary to ensure that local e-government promotes social inclusion

In addition, the study places the local e-government and social inclusion issue within the broader framework of modernising public services. A recurring theme is the role of councils as strategic enablers. Local government has gradually initiated a range of specific projects, often in partnership with many organisations including local communities, on tackling social exclusion through ICT. These have, for example, been developed through implementing electronic government (IEG) programme and with funding from many sources such as the Treasury’s ‘invest to save budget’ (ISB) and local e-government schemes such as ‘local partnerships’, ‘national projects’ and the e-innovations initiative launched in 2004. There is, however, a danger that these individual projects, while important and useful, are not connected to a broader strategy for an area. ‘Leading edge’ councils are those that have a community strategy into which IEG strategies sit and provide a basis for developing specific projects that address social exclusion.

1.3 Approach

This study has involved two major elements:

• a literature review on ICT and social exclusion with particular emphasis on the role of and issues facing local government

• case studies involving a mix of use of secondary sources and interviews with key stakeholders

The aim of the literature review has been to identify and highlight issues that have confronted or are likely to face councils and their partners in developing and delivering ICT policies and projects that address social exclusion. This has enabled a framework to be developed to help identify how local government strategies and actions can be classified and analysed.

The case studies focussed mainly on two groups of councils:

• Five local authorities who were awarded ‘Beacon Status’ in 2003–04 for excellence in achieving ‘social inclusion through ICT’:

– Cambridgeshire

– Derwentside


– Knowsley

– Liverpool

– Sunderland

• Six additional local authorities that provided geographical balance, additional innovative ICT schemes, and different dimensions of deprivation:

– Camden

– Croydon

– East Riding

– Manchester

– Newham

– Wear Valley

Also, other examples were identified through the literature review especially of policy documents and discussions with Project Advisory Board members, as well as through monitoring national initiatives such as the e-Innovation programme launched by the ODPM (now Communities and Local Government) in 2004 with ‘tackling the digital divide’ as a round one theme. The latter has involved thirteen councils and their partners developing projects to address social exclusion.

Information on the case studies has been obtained from a number of sources. It includes primary research based on visits and telephone interviews as well as, where applicable, attendance at conferences, seminars and open days. Additionally, considerable use has been made of secondary information including reports, briefing notes, and websites.

A major issue in the study has been judging the success of individual projects as an important step in identifying good practice. This has been particularly challenging as a number of initiatives are in the early stages of delivery. In addition, some of the emphasis in individual schemes has been geared towards outputs rather than outcomes ie delivering projects on time and within budget. This has been particularly noteworthy on some initiatives that have been partly funded externally. There has also been a focus, particularly with neighbourhood projects and those aimed at vulnerable groups, on the processes associated with project development and delivery ie community engagement and empowerment. It should also be noted that the study has not involved evaluation of individual or groups of projects in the case study local authorities.

The study, therefore, adopted a working definition of ‘success’ drawing on a number of interconnected elements including:

• commitment by the ‘lead’ organisation to internally evaluate projects on the basis of processes, outputs and outcomes

• willingness, and where appropriate, evidence of lesson learning (ie what works and what does not work and why), leading to improvements in


the specific project as well as rolling out new initiatives that build on the strengths and weaknesses of existing schemes

• evidence of external judgment through, for instance, national and regional recognition and including peer assessment, where available

• independent assessments as part of, for example, best value reviews and comprehensive performance assessment (CPA)

• achievement of ‘Beacon status’ on ICT and social inclusion that required as a key component the monitoring and evaluating projects and policies

Nevertheless, it should be noted that robustly identifying good practice on individual projects has to be aligned with the broader strategic enabling role of councils. Specific schemes that are not integrated into a broader policy perspective can be successful on their own terms. But they are unlikely to meet a number of the elements or criteria listed above eg ‘lesson learning’.

The issue of judging success and the relationship to monitoring and evaluation are a key part of the study’s recommendations.

The study was carried out by an inter-disciplinary team of staff at De Montfort University, Leicester, from the Department of Public Policy, the Department of Strategy and Management and the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility in the School of Computing.

1.4 Readership

This study is aimed primarily at key policy makers and stakeholders involved in local e-government and social inclusion. In particular, it is targeted at local e-government champions and corporate directors responsible for tackling social exclusion.

It should be read in conjunction with the study summary that has been circulated to all local authorities. This report provides the research basis that underpins the key conclusions and recommendations as well as highlighting examples of good practice.

1.5 Structure of the Report

The study focuses on two dimensions – the strategic enabling role of local authorities and specific local e-government projects that address social exclusion.

The next section (chapter two) focuses briefly on the development of the national policy framework for local e-government and social inclusion. This is followed by a literature and policy review, which establishes a framework for reviewing strategies and initiatives. Chapter four focuses on the strategic enabling role of local government highlighting four key dimensions:


leadership, policy, partnerships and resources, and people. This is followed by a spotlight on the themes of awareness, access, and skills and training on enabling social inclusion through ICT. Chapter six focuses on how ICT can be used to best advantage with a particular emphasis on a user perspective and the services that are especially relevant to excluded households and communities. Chapter seven considers the issues of monitoring and evaluation and in particular the challenging topic of measuring outputs ie an assessment of the difference that projects have made. The penultimate chapter focuses on bringing together the strategic enabling and individual project dimensions, while the final section set out the key conclusions and recommendations.


National Policy Framework

2.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter of the report is to provide a brief overview of the emerging national policy framework on local e-government and social inclusion. The first section reviews the recent history focussing on the issue of the digital divide. This is followed by a consideration of the local e-government framework with particular emphasis on pre- and post-2005 policies. Sections four and five focus on social inclusion and neighbourhood renewal, while the penultimate section centres on the broader strategic framework including the digital strategy for the UK, modernising local government, sustainable communities, and urban and rural policies. The chapter concludes with an analysis and outline of the emerging policy framework for the second half of the decade.

A key theme is that national policy has traditionally not made the links between ICT and tackling social exclusion. Good practice guides on developing and delivering anti-poverty strategies in the previous decade made, at best, cursory references to the threats and opportunities of information technology and the digital divide. For example, the work of the Local Government Management Board in the 1990s on ‘combating poverty’ made little reference to this topic6, as did the early reports of the Social Exclusion Unit7. However, a more joined-up approach has gradually emerged in this decade with strong evidence by 2005 of a more co-ordinated approach at the national level. A pivotal policy-orientated report that initiated this development was the Policy Action Team Report (2000) on ‘Closing the Digital Divide’8, which recommended that the Government must ensure that the promotion of ICT should reduce rather than increase social exclusion.

2.2 Tackling the Digital Divide

The Policy Action Team Report highlighted that individuals and communities that are able to make use of ICT skills are more likely to have opportunities to participate actively in society and the economy. Lack of ICT skills leads to and reinforces disadvantage resulting in a poorer quality of life. As well as emphasising the existing digital divide (see chapter three), the PAT 15 Report recommended a series of actions to address the issue including:

• joining together individual Government departmental programmes aimed at increasing ICT literacy

6 Alcock P et al. (1995): Combating Local Poverty: Luton, LGMB. 7 See, for example, Social Exclusion Unit (1998): Bringing Britain Together – A National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal:

London, HMSO. 8 Policy Action Team 15 (2000): Closing the Digital Divide – Information and Communication Technologies in Deprived Areas:

London, DTI.


• rationalising the various funding streams for ICT projects in the public sector and co-ordinating schemes in the private and voluntary arenas

• ensuring that the modernising local government agenda and the targets for delivering services electronically take account of the digital divide – PAT 15 put forward aspirational targets including that by 2004, 75 per cent of people living in deprived neighbourhoods would have the capabilities and skills to access public services electronically

• ensuring that deprived neighbourhoods had at least one community-based ICT facility by 2002

• focusing on strategies to encourage individuals in deprived neighbourhoods to participate in ‘taster sessions’ on using ICT

• prioritising the needs of black and minority ethnic communities in deprived neighbourhoods

• encouraging and promoting best practice in tackling the digital divide

Many of these recommendations were subsequently incorporated into the Social Exclusion Unit’s ‘New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal’ published in January 20019. For instance, there was an emphasis on ICT skills for adults with a focus on neighbourhood learning centres including UK online centres so that there would be at least one publicly accessible community facility in each deprived neighbourhood by April 2002. There was also considerable attention paid to ensuring joined-up thinking between government departments by making the connections between different initiatives and funding streams such as the DfEE’s community learning centres and the ‘new opportunities fund’ to help deliver community content on the world wide web.

At the same time, the challenge of tackling the digital divide at the local level has also gradually been taken on board through a range of other policy areas including local e-government, social inclusion and neighbourhood renewal strategies.

2.3 Local E-Government

The national strategy for local e-government was published in November 2002 and updated and reviewed in December 2003 and March 2005.10 There has been an increasing emphasis on the digital divide and the use of ICT to achieve social inclusion.

From a strategic perspective, Communities and Local Government has promoted the development of local e-government by establishing broad objectives and targets including “100% capability in electronic delivery of

9 Social Exclusion Unit (2001): A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal: London, SEU.10 ODPM (2002): National Strategy for Local E-Government: London, ODPM.

ODPM (2003): National Strategy for Local E-Government – One Year On: London, ODPM. ODPM (2005): Two Years On – Realising the Benefits from our Investment in E-Government; London, ODPM.


priority services by the end of 2005 in ways that customers will use”.11 It has facilitated activities by providing various forms of help and advice including promoting good practice and initiating capacity building programmes often through agencies such as the Audit Commission and the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) as well as encouraging peer mentoring by leading edge councils. In terms of financial resources, it provided £675m of funding between 2001and 2006 to individual local authorities and partnerships lead by councils.

Tackling social exclusion is being addressed at both policy and programme levels. In relation to the former, Communities and Local Government has set 10 priority service areas and four cross cutting themes that include support for vulnerable people, accessibility of services, community information, and welfare benefits.12 For each service area and theme, Communities and Local Government has set out required, good and excellent outcomes that it expects councils to deliver. These targets for support for vulnerable groups are:

• Required Outcomes

– Comprehensive and dedicated information on access to local care services available over the web and through contact/call centres

– Web or telephone access for authorised officers to obtain information about individual care packages

• Good Outcomes

– Systems to achieve joined-up working for children at risk

– Joint assessments of vulnerable people using mobile technology to support workers in the field

• Excellent Outcomes

– Agreed baseline and targets for customer satisfaction including improvement in numbers of carers and users who said that they got help quickly.

As part of IEG funding requirements, local authorities were also asked to provide information on corporate management practices, including:

• establishment of policy for addressing social inclusion within corporate e-government strategy

• identification of the specific needs of the most disadvantaged groups and exploring how Information Communication Technologies (ICT) can help to address these needs

In relation to programmes funded and supported by Communities and Local Government, there have been a number of recent and current specific initiatives including:

11 ODPM (2002): National Strategy for Local E-Government: London, ODPM. p. 5.12 ODPM (2002): National Strategy for Local E-Government: London, ODPM.


• E-Innovation Programme Round One Theme on bridging the digital divide: Thirteen councils and their partners received part-funding to develop innovative ideas by autumn 2005. These initiatives include:

– virtual viewing of properties and neighbourhoods (London Borough of Camden)

– tackling rural social exclusion (East Riding, North Cornwall and Test Valley)

– community involvement and empowerment (London Borough of Sutton and Preston)

• E-Innovation Programme Round Two Theme on inclusion through innovation: Three councils and their partners are developing projects during 2005–06. These include the London Borough of Camden, which is working on a virtual reality toolkit for community consultation.

• National Projects that involve groups of councils working together on 22 schemes in 2003–06: These have included:

– Digital TV (DigiTV): This focuses on enhancing channel strategy and helping to bridge the digital divide

– the RYOGENS Project (Reducing Youth Offending Generic National Solutions): This is aimed at tackling crime and anti-social behaviour as well as supporting vulnerable young people

– ENCORE (Environment and Community Online Residents’ E-Services) centres on making environmental information easy to find

The national policy for local e-government report has highlighted that it has achieved against its target.13 Beyond 2005, the focus is on embedding e-government within the mainstream agenda for local services so that it makes a real difference to people’s lives. This is part of a broader digital strategy for the UK published by the Cabinet Office in March 2005 (see Section 2.6 below).

2.4 Social Inclusion An important element of the Cabinet Office Report is tackling the digital divide

and the problems with low take-up. The Social Exclusion Unit (now the Social Exclusion Task Force located in the Cabinet Office) initiated a project on ‘inclusion through innovation’. This is due to be completed by 2006 and focuses on:

• delivering public services through new cutting edge technology

• reviewing how existing systems could be more effectively used to support vulnerable and excluded households

• exclusion proofing of new ICT so that it does not contribute to the digital divide

• identifying and promoting good practice on ICT and tackling social exclusion

• addressing ethical concerns about the emergence of new ICT

13 ODPM (2005): Two Years On – Realising the Benefits from our Investment in E-Government; London, ODPM.


2.5 Neighbourhood Renewal

The National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal has the key aim of significantly reducing the gap between the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the country by 2010 in relation to employment and skills, health, crime and housing and the physical environment. In early 2005, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister published a policy update.14 It provided a progress report against the aims set out in the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal published in January 2001 and includes a summary of new funding and government targets announced as part of the Treasury’s spending review in 2004.

Although the focus is on six policy areas (education, worklessness, health, crime and anti-social behaviour, homelessness, and housing and liveability), a cross-cutting theme is the threat and opportunities of ICT. The overarching target is to narrow the gap in outcomes between the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of England with measurable improvement by 2010. But again there is an emphasis on the contribution of ICT to meet this overall target as well as more specific outcomes.

2.6 Broader Policy Framework

As well as the policy frameworks on social inclusion, neighbourhood renewal and local e-government, the Government has set out a broader strategic framework that sets the context for these more specific initiatives. These include:

• Cabinet Office Report on a digital strategy15: This highlighted that although considerable progress has been made on moving towards a ‘digital rich country’, further progress is necessary on using ICT to modernise public services and to tackle the digital divide. It highlighted eight actions – a number of which focus on tackling the digital divide including:

– establishing a ‘digital challenge’ programme for councils and their partners

– transforming the learning process for children and adults with ICT

– developing a strategy to transform the delivery of public services

– improve accessibility to technology for the digitally excluded and ease of use for the disabled

– reviewing the digital divide in 2008

• modernising local government including the Communities and Local Government strategy on a vision for local government16: The emphasis is

14 ODPM (2005): Making it Happen in Neighbourhoods – The National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal Four Years On: London, ODPM.

15 Cabinet Office (2005): Connecting the UK – the Digital Strategy: London, Cabinet Office. 16 ODPM (2004): The Future of Local Government – A Ten Year Vision: London, ODPM.


on five themes – three of which are directly linked to ICT and e-government ie improving public service delivery, enhancing citizen engagement and participation, and developing community leadership.

• urban and rural policy: Since the publication of two white papers in late 2000, there has been a growing emphasis on the role of ICT and the importance of overcoming the digital divide. For example:

– Commission for Rural Communities has emphasised the importance of ICT in tackling rural disadvantage17

– Communities and Local Government has highlighted that there are a wide range of funding programmes that local authorities and their partners can access to promote social inclusion through ICT

• sustainable communities plan18: This is a long term programme for delivering sustainable communities in rural and urban areas. Although not specifically focussed on ICT and the digital divide, criteria for sustainability include ‘well connected’ ie widely available and effective telecommunications and Internet access.

2.7 Moving Forward

Considerable progress has been made over the last five years on developing policies and programmes for tackling the digital divide. In relation to local e-government, the national strategy is increasingly highlighting through policy and programme initiatives the importance of addressing social exclusion. The first two rounds of the Communities and Local Government’s e-innovation programme has been a particularly significant theme. The work of the Social Exclusion Unit on ‘inclusion through innovation’ is a further example illustrating the growing explicit focus on ICT and the digital divide. The Cabinet Office’s commitment to a review of the digital divide in 2008 will ensure that this focus remains a vital part of the broader national policy agenda.

Nevertheless, there is a need to ensure that these initiatives are joined-up. The Policy Action Team Report in 2000 emphasised both the importance of raising the digital divide up the policy agenda and, at the same time, the necessity for collaborative approaches between government departments. The former has clearly been achieved, but there is a danger of an over-proliferation of policies and programmes.

17 Commission for Rural Communities (2005): Beyond Digital Divides? – The Future for ICT in Rural Areas: Cheltenham, CRC. 18 ODPM (2003): Sustainable Communities – Building for the Future: London, ODPM.

ODPM (2005): Sustainable Communities – Homes for All: London, ODPM.


Social Inclusion and ICT

3.1 Introduction

The primary aim of this chapter is to help to establish a framework for local e-government policy intervention and ICT adoption among socially excluded groups and individuals. The starting point has been a literature review on social inclusion and ICT so as to highlight relevant issues for local e-government. This is briefly summarised in the first few sections of this chapter. It covers the nature of the digital divide, ICT and social exclusion, and a critical assessment of the impact of policies. This is followed by a focus on the twin elements of the policy intervention framework:

• project initiative issues such as access and awareness

• local authorities as strategic enablers

These twin themes are brought together in an overall approach in the final section. This provides the basis for subsequent chapters.

As the previous chapter has indicated, a key theme is addressing the digital divide and the role of local e-government in tackling this issue. This phrase is frequently mentioned by policy makers and in the media. It refers to the disparity between those who have use of and access to ICT and those who do not. In the first quarter of 2006, 57 per cent of households had access to the Internet at home compared to 52 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2004, and fewer than 10 per cent for the same quarter in 1998.19 Also, 60 per cent of adults had accessed the Internet in the previous three months compared to 47 per cent in the first quarter of 2003. However, this upward trend in Internet access hides considerable socio-economic and geographical variation. For example, the Office for National Statistics information for the first quarter of 2006 highlights:

• the proportion of households in the South East Region able to access the Internet was 66 per cent compared to 52 per cent in the West Midlands and Yorkshire & Humberside Regions

• the annual increase in the level of broadband access varies from 17 percentage points in London and the East of England to 4 percentage points in the West Midlands

• nearly 85 per cent of adults aged 16–24 accessed the Internet in the previous three months compared with 15 per cent adults aged 65 and over (see above)

• use of the Internet varies with income as 93 per cent of adults with an income of £36,400 or more per year had used the Internet within the last three months compared with 43 per cent of households with an income of up to £10,400

19 National Statistics: Internet Access – Households and Individuals: August 2006.


3.2 Nature of the Digital Divide and Policy Implications

There has been a vigorous debate about the nature and magnitude of a ‘digital divide’. Some commentators point out that divides have been apparent for many technologies. For example, on some social housing estates fewer than 30 per cent had a telephone in the mid/late 1990s.20 Nonetheless, many commentators regard a digital divide as especially significant because a lack of access to ICT can reinforce disadvantage at a number of levels. For the community, some argue it can limit access and use of better quality services and reduce social cohesion.21 For adults, computer literacy can be important for re-entering the labour market and for children it can potentially improve educational learning and attainment. Some researchers have added an extra dimension to this definition by asserting that tackling the digital divide should focus on the effective use of ICT for social and economic development and not simply access and use.22

Debates are, thus, starting to differentiate between two different types of ICT initiatives and policies. Many early definitions and policies focused on providing equality of opportunity for ICT use. Recent approaches, however, have centred on ICT policies that will actively address or overcome the causes of social exclusion (see pages 24–25 above). Later sections of this chapter, which examine the goals of government ICT policies, highlight that the differentiation between these two policy themes is important.

The case for policy intervention is usually based on the historical precedent that emphasis in the development of telecommunications infrastructure has been placed on the growth of the most lucrative markets, thus excluding people and places that are less profitable.23 Others argue that Internet content providers focus on the development of commercial sites for the affluent members of society.24 Although the cost of technology is decreasing it is argued that market mechanisms are insufficient to overcome the digital divide and policy intervention is required to reduce the widening gap.

3.3 ICT and Social Exclusion

A digital divide exists, but it is not as simple as haves and have-nots. There will always be a divide between high, medium, low and non-users. Disadvantaged users always have to play catch up in obtaining access and advantaged users will always leave them behind, gaining higher levels of skills and adopting newer technologies and services. For example, studies have increasingly highlighted a new digital divide between those who are on broadband and those who are not.25 Disadvantaged or socially excluded groups are often prevalent amongst those that lie at the non-users end of the digital divide continuum.

20 Graham S (2002): Bridging Urban Digital Divides?: Urban Studies Vol 39 No 1, pp 33–56.21 Policy Action Team 15 (2000): Closing the Digital Divide: London, DTI.22 Keller B (2001): Best Practices for Overcoming the Digital Divide: London, Garner Inc. 23 Graham S (2002): Bridging Urban Digital Divides?: Urban Studies Vol 39 No 1, pp 33–56.24 See for example Van Winden (2001): The End of Social Exclusion?: Regional Studies Vol 35 No 9 pp 861–868.25 Commission for Rural Communities (2005): Beyond Digital Divides? – The Future for ICT in Rural Areas: Cheltenham, CRC.


The Social Exclusion Unit’s ‘National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal’ (2000) developed a policy based on four key principles to reverse decline in deprived neighbourhoods (see chapter two). The first principle focused on reviving local economies and one of the key ideas to help people to compete for jobs was improvement in the use of the Internet in deprived neighbourhoods. Researchers have suggested ICT could also contribute to the delivery of the other three principles of the Social Exclusion Unit’s strategy – reviving communities, providing improved public services and partnership working.26

3.4 Social Exclusion

Social exclusion is a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown. It is a politically contentious concept. It is multi-dimensional and not simply related to income. Research has revealed a wide range of causes of social exclusion, both social and spatial. Geographical concentrations of disadvantage result from a combination of macro-structural and micro-local factors operating through labour, land and property markets.

The characteristics of social exclusion, such as non-participation in economic and social activities, isolation and a perceived lack of opportunity can be exacerbated through a lack of information and communication. Whilst inadequate access to ICT is not the cause of social exclusion, it has the potential to exclude individuals and groups.27

Little robust research has been found, however, that has examined whether ICT helps to overcome social exclusion. Few studies have investigated whether ICT can help at the margins or whether, in combination with other initiatives, it is beneficial in addressing the problems of social exclusion. Despite this lack of information the December 2000 SOCITM survey of local government IT professionals found that 47 per cent of respondents felt that ICT could address problems of social exclusion by making services easier to use and access, and in assisting the process of lifelong learning.28 Despite little supporting evidence there appears to be an increasingly accepted viewpoint that ICT has a role to play in addressing social exclusion.

3.5 Characteristics of the Digital Divide

Statistics reveal that the digital divide and differentiation in ICT adoption in Britain varies by geography and socio-economic factors (see p. 28 above).

Other factors affecting the adoption and use of ICT are life characteristics such as age, gender, disability and ethnicity. These have been widely

26 e.g. Van Winden W (2001): The End of Social Exclusion?: Regional Studies Vol 35 No 9, pp 861–868. 27 Van Winden W (2001): The End of Social Exclusion?: Regional Studies Vol 35 No 9, pp 861–868. 28 SOCITM (2000): IT Trends in Local Government: London, SOCITM.


researched and are acknowledged as the core barriers to the adoption and use of ICT. The Oxford Internet Survey in 2003, for example, highlighted that one of the biggest differences between users and non-users of the Internet is age. Among those at school, 98 per cent were Internet users, while for those in employment the figure was 67 per cent. But, for people of retirement age, only 22 per cent used the Internet.29

Low levels of education are also a key barrier to ICT adoption and use. Basic ICT use does not require high levels of educational attainment. However, it does require basic literacy skills such as reading and writing.

Several surveys have found lower levels of ICT use amongst socially excluded groups. A Department of Education and Skills survey in 2002 found that the use of ICT by socially excluded groups living on council estates with high unemployment was only 16 per cent. A further survey estimated that 25 per cent of adults living on council estates with high unemployment used ICT.30 Its use by disabled people was estimated to be 28 per cent, 32 per cent by those with basic skills difficulties and 36 per cent amongst lone parents.

3.6 Impact of Policies for Tackling the Digital Divide

As policies concerned with the digital divide are relatively new, coupled with the presumption of the benefits of ICT use, this has resulted in relatively little being known about the success of such initiatives. There is also a paucity of knowledge about how users are responding to the opportunities provided by ICT, beyond relatively simplistic studies and statistics of use by gender, age or location (see p. 28 above). In addition there is little empirical evidence that relates to how and why people use ICT and the problems that arise from adoption.

The success of many existing policies (especially local e-government initiatives) is not clear because most have only been in existence for a limited duration and evaluation studies based on outcomes rather than processes and outputs have not yet been fully completed. Nonetheless, it is possible to undertake a cursory review of general progress of some initiatives, such as the Department for Education & Employment ‘Wired Up Communities’ programme that ran from 2000 to 2003.

More generally Office for National Statistics information has shown that between the last quarter of 1998 and 2004, the number of households who could access the Internet at home had risen from 2.2m to 12.6m in the UK.31 A similar increase has been observed in the number of adults who have accessed the Internet at some time. Examination of statistics concerning those that have not used the Internet also reveals the success of government policies. In April 2002 20.6 million adults had not used the Internet. Between January 2001 and April 2002 the number of non-users who stated that they

29 Oxford Internet Institute (2003): The Internet in Britain – The Oxford Internet Survey 2003: Oxford, Oxford Internet Institute.30 Russell N & Drew N (2001): ICT Access and Use: London, Department for Education & Employment.31 See http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase


had ‘no computer or access to the internet’ declined by just over a million to 5.15 million. This suggested that the Government target of creating 6,000 UK online centres, which was completed successfully in November 2002, had a positive impact on the perceptions of non-users concerning Internet access. However, this also highlighted that there continues to be a large number of non-users that still have a ‘lack of interest’ in the Internet. This group remained almost constant at 9 million non-users between 2001 and early 2004. Approximately 20 per cent of all adults in Britain in February 2005 were found not to have considered using the internet and were not likely to do so in the future. The stability is more significant when one considers that the number of non-users has decreased. For example, over a fifteen-month period between early 2001 and summer 2002, it fell by nearly 1.5 million. Even more notable was the growing number of non-users who believed they have no need for the Internet. This group had increased by 1.65 million non-users during the same time period.

This interpretation of national figures is confirmed by an evaluation of the Wired Up Communities Programme.32 Several of the projects struggled to reach the high levels of penetration aspired to by the programme, despite subsidies for users and considerable marketing, promotion and outreach work. In addition, more than a quarter of respondents receiving technology had not used it to access the Internet, with almost a half of these reporting that they were ‘not interested’ in the Internet. The Wired Up Communities evaluation also questioned the commonly held viewpoint that once people have access to, and have used technologies, they will embrace them wholeheartedly. Approximately 18 per cent of Wired Up Communities users stopped using the Internet after the subsidy period had ended.

Policy debates have generally focused on Internet ‘access’ issues in terms of financial and technological problems associated with its complexity and diversity. There is increasing evidence starting to emerge that suggests a lack of content rather than access to technology is a critical barrier to bridging the digital divide for many socially excluded groups. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that the purchase of a home PC is a significant issue (compared to the costs of Internet access) for financially excluded households.

Access is a precondition for Internet use, but supporting activities such as raising an awareness and desire to use the Internet and the provision of training to develop basic levels of ICT skills are also important. In addition, if ICT policies are to support policies addressing social exclusion, much more needs to be understood about the role of ICT in the lives of socially excluded individuals and communities.

3.7 Policy Intervention Framework

The previous sections of this chapter have noted that more research is required to examine the success of policies and initiatives to promote ICT

32 Devins D et al (2003): Connecting Communities to the Internet: London, DfES.


use and e-government policies amongst socially excluded groups. The framework adopted for this study focuses on a strategic enabling role for local authorities together with five project initiative themes identified in the literature review above. The latter are:

• Awareness: Ensuring that households and communities have an appreciation of the potential of ICT to improve their quality of life ie challenging the consistently held view by over 50 per cent of non-users of the Internet that they have no need for and/or no interest in ICT

• Access: Tackling the interrelated factors of a lack of ICT facilities/Internet connections and their cost

• Skills and training: Providing households and communities with the appropriate expertise and knowledge to maximise their use of ICT

• Use: Providing services that are of importance to excluded households and communities

• Impact: Evaluating the impact/outcomes of policy and project interventions

This approach was developed by members of the study team during their research on Internet use in London.33 The policy intervention framework, shown in the diagram below models the way policy intervention by councils (and other agencies) can take place to support and encourage socially excluded groups to use ICT. It identifies the key areas for policy intervention. It is evident that many current initiatives are likely to fail because they are undertaken in isolation without thinking of other elements of the framework or without having a citizen focus.

The central three elements of the framework represent the ways in which local authorities and other groups have traditionally provided assistance to socially excluded (and other) groups. Clearly local authorities have a fundamental role in enabling and facilitating these developments especially in partnership with other organisations. Using the example of the Internet, numerous initiatives have been established to provide public access points in libraries and other locations. Several of these initiatives provide on-site access to help, skills and training to develop the ability of users to utilize the Internet more effectively. The provision of local e-government services provides an example of the way in which many councils have tried to meet the service requirements that will enable socially excluded groups to use the Internet ie content.

The outside two boxes in the framework (awareness and impact) and the feedback loop linking them represent the benefits (impact) received by internet users. If these beneficial impacts (or in the case of this study the benefits of e-government services) can be clearly identified they can be used to promote effective Internet use to socially excluded groups by raising their awareness of the benefits they can receive. The feedback loop represents the slowly growing body of information about benefits for socially excluded groups that can be highlighted by policy makers, initiative managers or which

33 Foley P et al. (2002): The Digital Divide in a World City: London, GLA.


can travel by word of mouth and encourage other individuals or socially excluded groups to use the Internet. It also provides local authorities with the ability to learn lessons about what works, what does not work and why.

Figure 1: The Policy Intervention Framework Feedback Loop

Awareness Access Skills andtraining ImpactUse

3.8 ICT Adoption and Policy Intervention Framework

Whilst the framework appears straightforward, it is important to note that the benefits and impact of ICT vary depending on the characteristics of the user and the way the technology is used. For instance users with impaired vision may obtain considerable benefits from using ICT to access information (perhaps through large print or automated reading software) that they might not otherwise be able to access. The benefits of these technologies to sighted users could be negligible, but to disadvantaged users they could be invaluable. Equally, disabled users with a physical impairment or those unable to travel easily might be able to access information and/or obtain shopping and other services more easily using ICT. Mainstream retailers are increasingly selling online the types of products that these users are likely to seek. Moreover the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Treasury’s ‘Invest to Save’ programme have funded a number of research projects that focus on vulnerable groups and online shopping.34

It is therefore important in any study of ICT use to consider different types of socially excluded groups. The key characteristics used to characterise social exclusion in this study have been:

• age

• ethnicity

• disability

• single parenthood

• income

• employment status

Later chapters, therefore, draw on projects from the local e-government arena that target these socially excluded groups.

34 See, for example, Barlow J & Breeze M (2005): Teleshopping for Older and Disabled People – An Evaluation of Two Pilot Trials: York, JRF.


In addition, the study explores the issue of the geographical dimension of the digital divide.

3.9 Benefits of ICT

A key aim in our research is to clearly identify the benefits or outcomes that are expected to arise from a policy or project initiative to encourage ICT use by socially excluded groups. These benefits or outcomes are likely to fall into one of two main groups. These are initiatives or policies that:

• provide equality of opportunity

• address causes of social exclusion

Many internet and e-government initiatives that are targeted at the socially excluded aim to provide them with the same level of access to information, services or opportunities as people that are not socially excluded. Many definitions of social exclusion highlight non-participation in economic and social activities, isolation and a perceived lack of opportunity. Low levels of participation or isolation or lack of opportunity can be exacerbated for many socially excluded groups through a lack of access to ICT. Whilst lack of access to ICT is not the cause of social exclusion, it has the potential to further exclude individuals and groups. As a result many initiatives aim to provide equality of access to services for socially excluded groups.

The second group of ICT oriented policies are more ambitious; at the outset these policies aim to overcome the causes of social exclusion. They address the reasons for social exclusion and provide targeted groups or individuals with the opportunity through, for example, the Internet to participate more effectively in economic and social activities. The best examples of this type of policy are initiatives that provide training and skills development to enhance computing skills (or overcome basic literacy deficiencies) and enable socially excluded groups to find employment.

Whilst differences between the goals of the two policy types are clear it is acknowledged that overlap can arise. Indeed it is accepted that policies that provide equality of opportunity can assist in overcoming the causes of social exclusion. However, the emphasis in our typology is on the intent at the start of local e-government projects, services and strategies to directly address social exclusion.

3.10 Role of Local Authorities

Although considerable emphasis in the study is placed on individual projects as a means of achieving social inclusion through ICT, the role of local authorities as strategic enablers and community leaders is pivotal in facilitating specific projects as well as ensuring joined-up thinking.


The key interlinked aspects are:

• Leadership: Ensuring that lead officers and members develop their e-champions role

• Policy and strategy: Developing a co-ordinated strategic approach that links community plans with, for instance, implementing e-government strategies (IEG) and social inclusion policies

• Partnerships and resources: Facilitating a multi-agency approach involving collaboration between public, private and voluntary sectors, as well as maximising resources

• People: Bringing together an appropriate blend of skills and expertise at the strategic and project levels

The strategic enabling role of local authorities provides the framework for facilitating specific initiatives that have been highlighted above (pages 24–25).

It also links with the broader agenda for modernising local government. Legislation such as the Local Government Act 2000, emphasises the importance of councils as community leaders in tackling social, economic and environmental challenges. More recently, the Government has embarked on a ten-year strategy for local government – ‘local:vision’. This links into the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister report published in early 2005 on ‘People, Places and Prosperity’. This envisages:

• councils as community leaders and champions

• a greater focus on neighbourhoods

• community and citizen empowerment

Each of these themes is central to the role of local e-government in tackling social exclusion. The strategic enabling role is discussed in more detail in the next chapter.

3.11 Bringing It All Together

The overall framework for the study is set out in the diagram below. It brings together the strategic enabling functions of councils with the more detailed themes for specific projects and initiative. The key features are:






Figure 2: Overall Framework: Components for bringing together Local E-Government Projects and Strategies for promoting Social Inclusion

Operational Activities Focus of the

Initiative

Awareness Policy andStrategy

Access

Partnership &Resources Skills and

Training

Use of Services

Lead

ersh

ip

PeopleOutputs &Learning

ICT Im

plementation


Local Authorities as Strategic Enablers

4.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to highlight the importance of councils as strategic enablers in bringing together local e-government and social inclusion agendas. Although considerable emphasis in the study has been placed on individual projects as a means of achieving social inclusion through ICT, the role of local authorities as strategic enablers and community leaders is pivotal in facilitating specific projects as well as ensuring joined-up thinking.

The next section of the chapter provides the context for strategic enabling. This highlights the broader framework underpinning the strategic enabling role and the challenges facing local authorities in further developing this approach. Section 4.3 provides an overview of this role in relation to ICT and social exclusion. This is followed by four sections that cover the key elements that comprise strategic enabling ie leadership, policy and strategy, partnership and resources and people. In each case, illustrative examples are used and these have been drawn from the case studies.

4.2 Strategic Enabling Context

The concept of councils as strategic enablers has been a key feature of the modernising local government agenda. Since 2000 it has, for instance, been emphasised in:

• the well-being and community planning role for councils as set out in the Local Government Act, 2000

• the Local Government White Paper (2001), ‘Strong Local Leadership – Quality Public Services’ and the focus on community leadership

• ‘Local:Vision’ – The Government’s ten-year vision for local authorities that includes an emphasis on community leadership ie bringing together public, private and voluntary sector agencies to develop and deliver services and tackle local problems

The strategic enabling role has also been emphasised in service specific areas such as housing. For example, the Government has highlighted this role in a number of policy documents including:

• DETR Housing Green Paper (April 2001)

• ODPM Sustainable Communities Plan (February 2003)

• ODPM ‘Homes for All’ Plan (January 2005)


This focus on councils as strategic enablers links into broader discussions on the role of governments as enablers rather than providers. An often-quoted phrase is “governments should govern rather than manage”.35

There is, however, no single model of strategic enabling. It can range from a minimalist position whereby councils work collaboratively with other public, private and voluntary sector organisations that deliver key services, to a community enabling approach that centres on active council intervention to meet local needs. This has allowed councils to develop approaches that reflect local priorities and issues. Nevertheless, despite these differences in approach, there is a consensus that there are a number of activities that constitute a strategic enabling function and these are:

• Leadership: This centres on the community leadership role of councils in developing a process for policy-making as well as setting an overall strategic vision

• Policy and strategy: This involves bringing together the wide range of local policy plans into a community strategy

• Partnerships and resources: This centres on the collaborative working between the council and a wide range of stakeholders including local communities through the local strategic partnership (LSP) system

• People: This involves a number of dimensions including ensuring that there is an appropriate blend of skills and expertise to develop and deliver policies

There are, however, a number of interlinked challenges in further developing a strategic enabling role. These, for example, include:

• increasing importance of sub-regional and regional policy making: In relation to ICT, the regional development agencies (RDAs) have a growing facilitating role. Activities include developing and delivering strategies for enhanced take up of broadband activities

• addressing the issue of the relationship between county and district councils in areas of the country with two tier local government: For example, there will be community strategies and local strategic partnerships as well as ICT initiatives at both levels

• ensuring there is joined-up thinking with organisations that often work to different geographical boundaries. For instance, there is a challenge for local authorities in working with the primary care trusts (PCTs) in the health sector. Our research highlighted that some rural local authority districts councils were covered by parts of at least three PCTs. Similarly, many housing associations structure their operations on a regional or sub-regional basis covering groups of local authority areas

35 Osborne D & Gaebler T (1993): Reinventing Government: Reading MA, Addison-Wesley.


• taking account of the realities of the geography of local housing and labour markets: Local authority boundaries do not reflect current living patterns. There is a strong case for joint working between groups of councils

• responding to the changing framework for modernising local government: As well as the shifting agenda outlined above, specific initiatives include the move towards local area agreements from public service agreements, alterations in best value performance indicators and the future direction of local e-government post 2005 (see chapter two)

Many of these issues are usefully illustrated by the Welland Partnership in the East Midlands. This comprises five councils: East Northamptonshire District Council, Harborough District Council, Melton District Council, Rutland County Council and South Kesteven District Council. The Welland Partnership has been successfully involved in a number of high profile e-government initiatives including planning online, community portals based on market towns, a joint contact centre initiative, and a shared services initiative. These have been supported with funding from, for instance, the Local e-Government Pathfinder programme and the Treasury’s ‘invest to save’ scheme (see http://www.welland-partnership.com/). Nevertheless, there have been and continue to be significant challenges in developing a strategic enabling role.

Welland Partnership: Challenges of Strategic Enabling

The Welland Partnership was established in the late 1990s by the five local authorities in recognition of a need for joint working to address the strategic issues of modernising local government. These included the challenges of:

• developing and delivering services in sparsely populated rural areas

• tackling the social exclusion issues that centre on lack of access to public, private and voluntary sector services

• taking account of similar overlapping rural local housing and labour markets in the sub-region

• accessing external funding

The Welland Partnership e-government agenda has witnessed a number of successful innovations with, for example, an external investment in ICT of over £4m that has helped facilitate one of the first planning online services in England and the development of 11 market town portals. Local e-government has been a key component in tackling social exclusion. The Welland Partnership e-government strategy has formed the framework for joint working and specific project development.

Nevertheless, there continue to be a number of strategic enabling challenges including:

• the relationship between the Welland Partnership and individual local authorities: A balance has to be reached between a sub-regional approach and

http://www.welland-partnership.com/


the individual strategic enabling responsibilities of each of the councils. This has been tackled by, for instance, producing a common ‘implementing electronic government’ (IEG) overview statement, but with an opportunity for each authority to insert its own detailed plans

• Welland sub-regional working: The Welland Partnership has been successful in obtaining sub-regional strategic partnership (SSP) status from the regional development agency – East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA). This has lead to the setting up of an independent organisation – the Welland Sub-Regional Strategic Partnership (http://www.wellandssp.org.uk/). Projects include IT support for small rural businesses and a virtual business network. There is a need to link together these two strands of ICT initiatives to tackle social exclusion

• the sub-regional agenda: Although EMDA supports the Welland SSP, there are also county-wide SSPs (eg Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire) that overlap with the Welland. Furthermore, these sub-regions are different from those used by the Government Office for the East Midlands for sub-regional housing and planning purposes, in which the Welland is not recognised for policy and investment purposes

• counties and districts: The Welland Partnership comprises one unitary authority (Rutland) and four districts. There are, thus, challenges in adopting a strategic enabling approach in relation to ICT and social exclusion where there are differences between council partners over responsibilities for services. More specifically, some activities such as education and social services are the responsibility of county councils who are not part of the Welland Partnership and who have their own ICT strategies, community plans and local strategic partnerships

• public service agreements and local area agreements: In two tier local government, these are organised at a county council level rather than by districts. There is thus a significant challenge for the Welland Partnership authorities in ensuring that the content of such agreements reflect the sub-regional needs

The innovative nature of the Welland Partnership has been acknowledged by national and regional stakeholders. It is a partnership based on a shared understanding of tackling common issues in a rural sub-region. However, although the strategic enabling role of the Welland Partnership on local e-government has been relatively successful, there are a number of challenges that make further development problematic.

http://www.wellandssp.org.uk/


4.3 Overview of Strategic Enabling

Although there are a number of specific elements of strategic enabling that are covered in the next four sections, it is important that each of them are linked together to provide an effective role. This is illustrated in the diagram below:

Figure 3: Elements of Strategic Enabling

Operational Activities

Policy and Strategy

Partnership & Resources

Lead

ersh

ip

People

Leadership is critical for establishing the policy framework, building partnerships and accessing resources, and ensuring that there is an appropriate blend of skills and expertise. It is also imperative that strategic enabling for ICT and social inclusion links into the broader policy framework as set out in community strategies and through local strategic partnerships (LSPs).

The example of Derwentside District Council usefully illustrates these points. It is an area that used to be heavily dependent on the steel industry and coal-mining. The gradual decline of mining and the closure of the steelworks in the early 1980s meant that by 1982 unemployment had reached 28 per cent. Of the 23 wards within the district, 11 were still amongst the worst ten per cent nationally for employment problems in the late 1990s. (DETR Index of Multiple Deprivation 2000).

Considerable intervention by the local authority and its partners has been necessary to develop the local economy and society from the nadir of the early 1980s. Local officials believe that one of the most important elements in reversing decline has been investment in new technology. The Council and its partners realised that traditional methods of intervention were not enough to fully address socio-economic needs. It became evident that new technology in the form of ICT had an important role to play in local economic and community development.


4.4 Leadership

The local e-government agenda has required that councils appoint e-champions at senior officer and member levels to drive forward the development and delivery of services using ICT. As previous research has indicated,36 our case studies confirm that high profile e-champions exist where e-government is

36 CURDS (2003): Local E-Government – Process Evaluation of the Implementation of Electronic Local Government in England: London, ODPM.

Derwentside and Strategic Enabling

A strategic policy direction for regeneration and clear role for ICT were presented in the 1997 Derwentside ICT strategy review. This encapsulated the Council’s philosophy and focused on three interlinked strands of ICT work:

• developing the Council as an ICT Centre of Excellence

• facilitating a community strand to enable people and organisations in Derwentside to join the information society

• encouraging a business strand to encourage economic growth and entrepreneurial culture

This strategy document (with later revisions) and complementary policies provided a clear vision and ‘forward looking approach’ that have provided a long term approach to problems and solutions.

Implementation and development of this vision has been undertaken with clear leadership and support from a wide range of individuals and groups. Interviewees highlighted the significance of effective relationships between council officers and elected members. A broad range of political support was also thought to be important in supporting and leading change. There appears to be widespread support embracing the spirit for change.

Derwentside Council objectives and policies have been supported by many different groups. Partnership has been central to the development and success of many initiatives. Significant projects to address social exclusion have been developed with many organisations including Health Trusts, doctors, schools and FE colleges, community and voluntary groups, and local businesses. Partnership and consultation has also extended to the local community. Several consultation methods have been developed and working with the community to identify needs and planning actions together to address them have been important in the success of many initiatives.

Both the Council and partners have been tenacious in chasing funding opportunities and in dealing effectively with opportunities and problems.

On some occasions leading individuals and organisations had the courage to take bold and difficult decisions in Derwentside. Interviewees noted that whether decisions were difficult or not it was important to obtain the support of staff in implementing projects. The importance of taking the staff ‘with you’ was highlighted by several interviewees.


prioritised. From a senior officer perspective, e-champions are likely to be drawn from the senior management team and have a corporate responsibility for either council strategy or service delivery. Member e-champions are most effective where they are based in the cabinet/executive.

However, leadership is more than just about the role of corporate e-champions. It also requires:

• an internal network of e-champions in each department especially in large local authorities

• an e-government internal management team to drive forward the ICT agenda and make the connections with other policy areas such as tackling social exclusion

• an external leadership role to bring together other public private and voluntary sector organisations to develop and join up specific projects linking ICT and social inclusion – an increasing number of local authorities appear to be establishing ICT forums/boards that feed into local strategic partnerships

A good example of these leadership issues is Liverpool City Council.

Liverpool City Council and Leadership

Both internal and external pressures led to the undertaking of Liverpool City Council’s major reorganisation of its internal business process in 1999. Liverpool City Council adopted a visionary approach to transforming the way it ran its services in the 21st century moving from a seaport to an e-port. ICT was seen as being a key vehicle in realising the future direction of service delivery.

Strong leadership meant that in the initial stages of this process the vision was established and implemented by the higher level officers across all departments. Liverpool’s vision for its citizens and customers is that they must be able to:

• contact Liverpool City Council on any matter at any time of the day

• ensure that problem is dealt with on first point of contact (as often as possible)

• carry out any transactions relating to the citizen/council electronically

• access Liverpool City Council electronically from home or identified terminals in convenient locations

External stakeholders and customers were consulted at a later stage on the development of specific projects and the day to day nuances of the technology and not on which technologies to adopt. The development of a corporate vision greatly assisted the development of a partnership between the City Council and BT to form Liverpool Direct Ltd.


4.5 Policy and Strategy

Local authorities are required to produce annual implementing electronic government (IEG) statements. These focus on progress towards the 2005 e-government targets rather than forming a corporate strategy on ICT. Our case studies highlighted that the more innovative councils (eg Derwentside, Liverpool and Knowsley) had a strategy in place in the late 1990s, and use the IEG statements as monitoring vehicles.

Knowsley Borough Council Policy Framework

The strap line for the Knowsley Borough Council’s Beacon Status bid for ICT was ‘Making the Connections’. The Council is striving to ensure access for everyone. In particular, it aims to ensure that people with learning disabilities, school children, older people and local businesses are able to access ICT through an e-community programme that puts people first, improves services and provides greater opportunities for everyone.

The Council’s priorities in its community plan are social responsibility, education, employment and community well being. Knowsley’s five key focus areas are:

• raising attainment

• ICT training provision

• accessible ICT in libraries

• intermediate care for older citizens

• improving local business and community interaction

Knowsley Council considers that having an overarching strategy and programme has been an important success factor for its current position.

It has a Community Information Programme, which is the driving force behind the realignment of ICT in council services, placing citizens first and uses ICT wherever possible to support the citizen, borough, community and business infrastructure. Knowsley has implemented a specific structure to deliver modernisation:

• e-Council which comprises thematic groups cutting across council departments

• e-Community and Learning Group – formed from three council chief officers and the Chief Executive of the Primary Care Trust to support developments across the education, community, social and health care sectors

• the strategic approach of the e-Community and Learning Group is to focus on access, skills and support and content and engagement

Knowsley’s strategy for social inclusion through ICT is central to the delivery of community wellbeing. Its e-Community is being built on an infrastructure that joins all sectors of the community. ICT is, therefore, seen as a key element in Knowsley’s approach to promoting economic and social inclusion, hence their strategy supports all aspects of the community.

A key message that the Council wants to share with other local authorities is the need to develop a strategy borne out of local requirements and priorities.


Corporate e-government strategies and IEG statements are two of a huge range of local policy plans and sub-strategies that councils produce often at the insistence of government. Anti-poverty strategies and social inclusion policies are further examples.

Each of these plans makes eminent sense on its own terms. But the problem is one of policy overload. The Government calculated in 2002 that large urban unitary authorities had to produce over 60 plans to meet its requirements and acknowledged that this was an unacceptable burden.37 Progress is being made on plan rationalisation. The Government initially set itself a target of reducing the local policy planning burden by 75 per cent. More recent guidance published in late 2004 indicated that the Government intends to have achieved the following objectives by the end of 2005–06:

• for excellent authorities (as rated through the Comprehensive Performance Assessment system), there will be a requirement to produce a best value performance plan, a community strategy, a local development framework and to participate in partnership policy planning such as crime and disorder reduction strategies

• for non-excellent authorities, as well as the above, there is a requirement, for example, to produce a small number of major service plans (including a local housing strategy) as well as a number of specific plans

Nevertheless, there is a dilemma. Reducing the plan burden necessitates that fewer but more concise strategies should be produced. Increasingly specific policy plans will need to be incorporated into the broader community strategies overseen by local strategic partnerships. A major challenge will be for local authorities to produce community strategies that adequately incorporate and bring together ICT and social inclusion strategies.

A useful example of a community plan approach incorporating joined-up thinking between local policy plans is Knowsley Borough Council (see previous page).

4.6 Partnerships and Resources

The emphasis in the majority of the case studies has been to provide joined-up services for the community through ICT. This requires collaboration between private, public and voluntary section agencies lead by the local authority. This also involves the mobilisation of resources from these other organisations. Partnership working is, thus, essential as the delivery of relevant services to socially excluded communities and households involves many bodies. The case studies have highlighted a number of issues on partnership working including:

• effective collaborative working is more important than formal partnerships as the latter do not necessarily achieve desired outcomes

37 Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (2002): Plan Rationalisation Study Report: London, ODPM.


• collaborating with voluntary sector agencies including local communities is challenging as these bodies often operate consensus-building working arrangements, have horizontal/flat organisational structures, and operate on the basis of lengthy consultation processes – all of which pose potential difficulties for local authorities who are trying to operate to tight timetables

• the importance of different types of partnerships including:

– Strategic partnerships for the development of joined-up ICT and social inclusion strategies

– community partnerships to engage with local organisations

– project partnerships to deliver specific initiatives

• relatively few partnerships involved government departments and their arms length organisations who often are crucial in delivering services to socially excluded groups eg welfare benefits and employment opportunities

• private sector involvement has centred primarily on ICT infrastructure, which is often on a contractual rather than a partnership basis

The importance of partnership working is particularly significant where a two-tier system of local government operates. The social inclusion and ICT programme lead by Cambridgeshire County Council usefully illustrates a number of the points identified above.

Cambridgeshire County Council

Partnership working has been a key feature of the ICT approach for tackling social exclusion in rural areas. The key element of this is community access points. The target has been to establish and update 400 such access points – though some of these are not new and have been funded through other investment streams.

At a strategic level, the Cambridgeshire Community Network (CNN) is a vital feature. The CCN is a public-private partnership lead by the County Council and including district, town and parish councils, the Cambridgeshire Grid for Learning (E2B), Cambridgeshire NHS, Cambridgeshire Lifelong Learning Partnership and other voluntary and community groups. The £29 million network will establish a broadband ‘backbone’ between Cambridge, Ely, March and Huntingdon. From these points, CCN branches out into towns and villages, connecting sites from libraries to learning centres, and post offices to pubs (ie community access points). Cambridgeshire County Council awarded the £29m, eight-year contract to NTL Business in 2002.

At a local level, community access points have been set up in conjunction with established local initiatives such as sheltered housing schemes, day centres and multi-purpose centres. It has involved collaborative working with housing associations, district councils, parish councils and local neighbourhood organisations. This has enabled a bespoke strategy to be developed for each village/town based on local needs and the resources that have been available.


4.7 People

Previous research has emphasised that skills gaps exist within local government on ICT38. However these are not primarily concerned with technology aspects. Instead they focus on issues such as change management, project management and the ability to link e-government with council priorities.

This study has highlighted that an appropriate blend of skills and expertise involves a broader perspective than local authority staffing. Leading edge councils that are successfully linking ICT and social inclusion agendas are increasingly making use of people in local communities as change agents and e-champions.

A strong theme within the Sunderland ICT and social inclusion project is the involvement of local people as e-champions in helping excluded communities and households to make use of technology.

Sunderland and Local People as E-Champions

Initiatives include:

• local people act as gatekeepers spreading by word of mouth information about the facilities and opportunities available at the Electronic Village Hall (EVH). This recommendation is vital in breaking down barriers and encouraging all in the community to take advantage of the EVH

• the appointment of an e-neighbourhood programme manager whose role is to continue to expand the EVH initiatives, develop a pool of e-champions and to organise community audits to identify specific ICT needs

• the setting up of an e-champions pool comprising people who have the enthusiasm, commitment and ability to ensure ICT works for the interests of people in local communities. They undertake the community audits. Over 60 nominated champions have been appointed and are active

38 CURDS (2003): Local E-Government – Process Evaluation of the Implementation of Electronic Local Government in England: London, ODPM.


Awareness, Access and Skills & Training

5.1 Introduction

The strategic enabling role of local authorities outlined in the previous chapter provides the framework for facilitating specific initiatives. In designing and delivering projects for tackling social exclusion through ICT, there are three key themes that need to be addressed:

• Awareness – ensuring that households and communities have an appreciation of the potential of ICT to improve their quality of life ie challenging the consistently held view by approximately 50 per cent of non-users of the internet that they have no need for and/or no interest in ICT

• Access – tackling the interrelated factors of a lack of ICT facilities/internet connections and their cost

• Skills and training – providing households and communities with the appropriate expertise and knowledge to maximise their use of ICT

For each of these there are a series of challenges that have to be overcome and these are illustrated in the diagram below:

Figure 4: Challenges in Designing and Delivering Projects for tackling Social Exclusion through ICT

SKILLS &TRAINING

AWARENESS ACCESS

Jargon

Design KnowledgeSkills

Interfaces/channels

Quality ofExperience

Doesn’t Apply to me

Culture ofNon-involvement Incentives

Mistrust

DisinterestCost Opening

Hours

Location

Ease of use,availability

Language &Literacy

�0 | Local e-Government and Social Inclusion

In each case, local authorities and their partners can address these issues through their facilitating and enabling roles (see Section 4.2 (p. 38) above).

5.2 Promoting Awareness

As has already been indicated, there is a continued body of evidence highlighting the lack of awareness among households and individuals of the potential of ICT.

For example, the Office for National Statistics quarterly surveys of internet users and non-users has consistently highlighted that between 2000 and 2005 the main reason why adults did not access the Internet is ‘do not want to/have no need to/do not have an interest in’. For the first quarter of 2006, nearly 25 per cent of households said that they did not use the Internet because ‘it was not useful, not interesting etc’.39

There are a number of interlinked ways in which awareness of the potential of ICT can be enhanced and these are listed below.

5.3 Highlighting the Social Value of Projects

This focuses on promoting the positive differences to everyday and commonplace activities. A key theme is using local people as e-champions.

The Sunderland example has already been cited in the previous chapter as an example of how councils can facilitate the uptake of ICT. But it also strongly emphasises how the promotion of the awareness of ICT can be achieved. In many respects, the detailed illustrations are not cutting edge technology – instead, they are commonplace. This, as Sunderland Borough Council has highlighted, is essential ie how ICT can transform ordinary day-to-day experiences, and so creating added social value.

Of course, it might be argued that ICT may indirectly facilitate wider non-place networks at the expense of local place-based neighbourhoods. The experience of Sunderland (and other Beacons) has been to the contrary. Promoting added social value strengthens and helps to rebuild communities by focusing on local requirements.


Local e-Government and Social Inclusion | �1

Sunderland and Local People as Champions

Local people have acted as gatekeepers spreading by word of mouth information about the facilities and opportunities available at Electronic Village Halls (EVHs). This is linked to the development of a pool of e-Champions that comprise primarily local people who have the enthusiasm, commitment and ability to ensure ICT works for the interests of people in local communities. Trust is vital in the role of the champions – people come to them for help, share personal information, open up to them and use the technology to help them access services and indirectly learn new skills.

E-Champions help to facilitate how local people can add social value to their lives by using ICT, for example, to:

• keep in touch with family and friends living abroad or in other parts of the UK

• building up networks of individual with common interests and hobbies

• finding and buying online goods and products that are not available locally

• developing new skills among members of local groups so that newsletters can be produced

5.4 Dissemination and Publicity

Linked to the need for creating added social value for local people is the issue of disseminating and publicising the benefits of ICT to a wider community. The more successful schemes that tackle social exclusion through ICT have developed marketing and advertising strategies to proactively promote initiatives.

The nature of this dissemination and publicity strategy has to be appropriately targeted on the needs of local communities, is often resource intensive and should be repeated on a regular basis. These points are illustrated in Cambridgeshire where the emphasis is on highlighting the relevance of village websites to the local community and also to adjoining parishes (see case study below).

As the Countryside Agency (now the Commission for Rural Communities) has previously noted in its work on ‘setting up one stop shops’40, ICT can usefully be located in such facilities but its use and relevance will depend on appropriate strategic marketing.

40 Countryside Agency (2003): Setting Up One Stop Shops – A Good Practice Handbook on Linking Services in Market Towns: Cheltenham, Countryside Agency.


Cambridgeshire and Promoting the Use of ICT

• community access points (CAPS) are advertised locally in a variety of ways including parish newsletters in order to raise awareness of the facility throughout the area

• project staff carry out local marketing in the immediate geographical area of the access points and promotional strategies are used to widen target group participation

• a tailor made local strategy is worked out for each village according to the resources available and the issues facing the village eg the development of parish plans

• the fragmented nature of rural social exclusion is that it exists within more affluent communities but is hidden and therefore it is more difficult to target – the aim of the strategies has been to ensure that the facility is seen as being for the whole community, and as flexible, welcoming and supportive

• all households are leafleted in access point locations

• outreach staff work with local groups and attend meetings to raise awareness. Some of the CAPs have been set up in conjunction with established local groups and facilities such as sheltered housing schemes, centres for people with mental health issues, village shops including post offices/cafes/bookshops, and local Travellers through the Traveller’s liaison officer

• word of mouth helps to raise awareness through local e-champions, and peer support

• access points hold very informal launches and have an informal approach to learner sign-ups and demonstrations

• access points are often re-launched and re-branded to encourage more learners to attend

5.5 ‘Marketing by Stealth’

Dissemination and publicity strategies help to ensure that local people and communities are more aware of the existence and potential of ICT. However, a further strand of activities is necessary in order to move to ‘take up’ and regular use by local people.

This involves encouraging local people to emphasise the benefits and by making use of ‘good news’ stories such as jobs obtained through use of an online service. This ‘marketing by stealth’ on successful outcomes has been strongly emphasised by each of the Beacons. It has often been promoted by individual stories through the local media with the help of the council’s public relations departments.


Promoting Successes in Knowsley

The Council identified in the early part of this decade three key areas for ‘outcomes’, and these were physical presence, businesses and citizens. The following were highlighted as notable achievements by the local authority and the media:

• at least 34 people back in employment from using the job search facility on the websites

• 100 homes benefiting from the loan of a PC so enabling children to undertake homework more easily and achieve better results at school

• over 40 people enrolled on the IT courses, over 100 ‘silver surfers’ enrolled on the BBC’s Web Wise course and 230 citizens enrolled with Learn Direct

5.6 Managing Expectations

Adopting a realistic perspective as to what can and cannot be achieved through ICT in tackling social inclusion is crucial. Considerable emphasis has been given in this section to promoting how ICT can facilitate ordinary day-to-day activities. An important feature is managing expectations. This is illustrated through Camden’s choice-based lettings system for allocating social rented housing – Home Connections.

Camden’s Home Connections Scheme and Social Housing Allocations

This choice-based lettings system was developed partly using government pilot funding between 2001 and 2003. The system has subsequently been extended to include a sub-regional focus on central and north London and involves local authority and housing association stock.

Considerable use has been made of ICT in developing the service. Available properties are advertised through the website and it is planned to have virtual viewing of properties online. Consumers can respond in a variety of ways to adverts including online and through text messaging.

The system involves providing information through the website on what properties have been let and the number of ‘points’ that were required to be successful. This has encouraged consumers to make more realistic responses to advertisements. It has reinforced to customers that the social housing market is high demand.

5.7 Encouraging Access

The Office for National Statistics survey, which has been referred to above (see Chapter 3 ‘Social Inclusion and ICT‘), has indicated the significance of the twin factors of lack of facilities/connections and cost. Between 2000


and 2005, the quarterly surveys have shown a rise in the proportion of people who consider the lack of internet connections as being important. In 2000, fewer than 20 per cent of respondents highlighted this factor, but in 2005 this had increased to nearly 40 per cent. In relation to internet cost, consistently approximately 10 per cent of non-users emphasise this consideration. Similarly, the cost factor has been frequently emphasised in more general studies of ICT – see, for example, the PAT 15 report on the digital divide41 and the ‘wired up communities’ programme.42 The literature review chapter has also shown the existence of new emerging digital divides such as those based on the availability/non-availability of broadband access to the Internet.43

The case studies indicate that there are a number of approaches that can be used to tackle these concerns and these are highlighted below.

5.8 Diversity of Access

Ensuring that there is a diverse range of ICT access points and opening hours including evenings and weekends is crucial in achieving social inclusion. It is important that access is available when customers want to make use of ICT rather than having to depend on normal office opening times.

Home access to facilities may be the long-term goal which will overcome this challenge. But this is unlikely to become commonplace until the next decade. Nevertheless as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has noted, the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting (which will be completed by 2012) may help to achieve other objectives such as access to national and local e-government services.44

41 Policy Action Team 15 (2000): Closing the Digital Divide: London, DTI.42 Devins D et al. (2003): Connecting Communities to the Internet: London, DfES.43 See, for instance, Commission for Rural Communities (2005): Beyond Digital Divides? – The Future for ICT in Rural Areas:

Cheltenham, CRC.44 Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Chartered Institute of Housing (2005): Digital Switchover – A Good Practice

Briefing: Coventry, CIH.

Liverpool and Customer Access

The Council invested significant resources to improve the access to services and facilities in Liverpool. These included:

• most people have access to a telephone, whether it is a landline or mobile phone. So, Liverpool has had a strong corporate approach to promoting its call centre for customer services and social services. It has the largest call centre for local government in UK. This service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days of the year

• additionally, the City Council is operating a network of One Stop Shops across the City and they had 14 in place by the end of 2004

Local e-Government and Social Inclusion | ��

5.9 Customer-Centred Approach

As the Liverpool case study illustrates, a key feature is developing access points to meet the needs of local communities. This highlights a more general theme that a customer-centred approach is required for all aspects of achieving social inclusion through ICT. Derwentside exemplifies this theme and is particularly significant in terms of the manner in which the council and its strategic partners have, firstly, developed facilities based on local demands and, secondly, modified provision in response to community requirements.

• many of Liverpool City Council’s libraries are now open seven days a week – allowing citizens to access free email and the Internet (via the People’s Network). UK Online Centres (ICT learning centres) have been set up in every public library. Some libraries offer a collection of books in different languages and have the software to manage languages. Other specialist software is also available in some libraries

• there are four City Learning Centres (CLC) in Liverpool. All citizens have access to the facilities from where they can obtain a range of learning opportunities

• people with disabilities are able to access public PC facilities in libraries and CLCs throughout the city. Special software and hardware permits users to access the PCs, as for example they are kitted out with adjustable workstations, designed to allow access to wheelchair users

• an ICT bus visits 300 venues per year in the City of Liverpool. It is often parked in supermarket or shopping centre car parks. During the first 6 months of use it had 1,300 users. Multiple minority groups are targeted to benefit from the ICT bus. The bus is also equipped for disabled access

• geographical Information Systems have been used to map the incidences of deprivation and home PC ownership. The outcome of this exercise has been used as a basis for sighting local information kiosks

• these kiosks (or pavement pods as they have become known) are being sited in safe places within the vicinity of CCTV cameras and act as help points

Derwentside Customer Initiatives

• the Derwentside Infonet (www.derwentside.org.uk) comprises over 75 public access points equipped with Internet connections and multi media capability. All have broadband access, via the Derwentside Municipal Area Network. Originally it was thought that 15 access centres would be sufficient to service local needs. But local enthusiasm to establish public access points led to many additional centres being planned for and created

• training is provided at all public access centres by staff and volunteers. An Infonet team of five officers set up at the Council provides ICT support to community groups, assisting them in developing community websites and generally promoting the use of ICT in accessing information, and training and

http://www.derwentside.org.uk

�� | Local e-Government and Social Inclusion

5.10 Appropriate Design of Facilities and Infrastructure

An important part of the lessons from the Beacon councils is that facilities should be appropriately located in multi-purpose/use centres such as community buildings. Similarly, the facilities and the support for users should avoid a formal structure that centres on a school/college style.

employment opportunities. This support has provided community organisations with the skills and capability to provide their own training

• Craghead Village Hall project was created as part of the West Durham Rural Networks programme with support from Rural Challenge, SRB and the National Lottery. The centre opened in December 2000 and is fully equipped in terms of ICT technology, with broadband internet, computers, games consoles, educational content, etc. The provision of games equipment reflects the strategic goal to encourage young people to use ICTs. This was also developed because of the demand for this type of facility for young people. The centre has been successful. Membership rose from 44 residents to 375 during the first week (of which 180 were young people), and subsequently reached 600 (360 of which are young people). The centre is a vibrant part of the village’s life and has provided the community with a resource to access training opportunities

• a project ‘Raising Aspirations’ commenced in 2003 to provide ICT equipment and training support to all households with a child at Key Stage 7. The project, led by the local authority, aims to support 300 households. This was developed partly because there was a growing demand by parents and other community groups

Cambridgeshire Partnership Initiative

• access points have been based in non-traditional locations for learning in order to attract ‘bypassed learners’ or those whose experience of learning had been negative. For example, Hereward Housing Association has facilitated access points in their bases for both the community and tenants

• in addition, the access points have been promoted to attract excluded learners who may lack the motivation to participate in education but were interested in ICT

• an access point has been established at a family centre based within an area of high deprivation where clients will include residents and workers who have no or low ICT skills and who are excluded by reason of age, disability, lack of qualification, dependent responsibility or lifestyle

• the Cambridgeshire Partnership worked with other local agencies to ensure that the widest coverage of the area can be achieved. Many low income families in the area are those who have been affected by the decline in agricultural work – local learning centres can help make education and training


5.11 Balancing Technology and User Requirements

Equipment and facilities should be geared to the interests of the community and potential users. This requires an appropriate balance to be achieved between technology and user requirements

The Electronic Village Hall (EVH) adopted by Sunderland Borough Council illustrates how this balance can be achieved.

Sunderland and Electronic Village Halls

• a community EVH ICT strategy has been put in place. The first EVH was launched on the Pennywell estate in 1997 funded through the Single Regeneration Budget. Each EVH is provided with a start-up package including personal computers, smart card readers and facilities for the visually impaired. There is a basic consistent level of service/provision based on facilitation, opening times, and advice

• at the same time, specific additional service/provision EVHs are developed to reflect local needs. For instance, to service the needs of one area a distributed EVH, the Hendon Hub, was established. This was provided with funds to network geographically dispersed community groups and establish some central technical support. A local Hendon ICT strategy to promote a cooperative approach to development, infrastructure and training was established. This has involved 35 local groups and agencies as well as local individuals

5.12 Developing Skills and Training

As has already been pointed out, the Office for National Statistics surveys of Internet use provide some useful information on the factors preventing take-up. Lack of knowledge or confidence was indicated by just over 20 per cent of non-users in late 2002 and this had risen to 36 per cent in summer 2005. In the first quarter of 2006, nearly 25 per cent of households who did not

accessible to them and other low-income members of communities otherwise excluded by distance, transport or cultural barriers

• one access point was established in a day centre for those recovering from mental health problems and another in a counselling centre for young people in order to offer the benefits to them with the aim of increasing confidence and employability

• access points give learners the opportunity to benefit from one to one support from qualified organisers. Training and skills development is determined on an individual basis, ranging from introductory and taster sessions to accredited learning


have Internet access because of lack of skills.45 A crucial issue in using ICT to achieve social exclusion is, therefore, providing appropriate training.

There are, however, a number of issues in achieving this aim. One of the most significant is providing training and support that addresses the needs of local people. Formal qualifications in ICT gained through traditional systems might not be relevant for many communities.

5.13 ‘Learning by Stealth’

A strategy that has been adopted by some councils (such as Sunderland) and their partners has been to focus on the added social value for individuals and communities – see ‘highlighting the social value of projects’ (page 50). Training and the development of skills is, therefore, achieved indirectly.

Sunderland and Training Opportunities

Training opportunities are based upon the views of individual users rather than training imposed by curriculum structures or by organisational demand. At a grass roots level, local people are given an awareness of what ICT means and what it can do for them. They have been given access to the actual technology and have the skills to use that technology. For example:

• a call centre training programme has been developed at the Pennywell Electronic Village Hall (EVH).

• the Pennywell EVH had over 75,000 individual visits by 2004. It has helped over 500 people gain formal qualifications.

• Pennywell have been innovative in using progress monitoring focussing on soft outcomes and distance travelled (valued added). Grading is avoided. An individual’s progress along a development plan is unobtrusively tracked

5.14 Support for Users

A linked theme in skills development and training is ensuring that support in various forms is available to users when and how they need it. In some cases, this might involve formal accredited qualifications but in other cases it might involve informal online support.

A number of councils, such as Knowsley, have tackled this issue by providing a range of support options.



User Support in Knowsley

Knowsley has a strategy though its e-Community and Learning Group to develop the right skills in order for customers to be able to access electronic facilities. This has involved a range of both formal and informal training as well as assisted learning. Specific measures include:

• each of the ICT locations and access points provides training at a range of levels, including formal qualifications. For example, the ICT bus has two tutors that provide basic training on ICT skills, using keyboard, mouse, menus, screens, etc. There are also three-week taster courses available. It is possible to undertake a twelve-week course, but people must register with a local college to be able to do the course on the bus

• in addition, the district’s libraries run homework clubs and single parents are able to access the crèche facilities at the libraries whilst they participate in the Learn Direct courses

• Knowsley Borough Council’s interactive digital TV includes an on-line e-learning facility

5.15 Community Volunteers

A strong theme in each of the ‘Beacons’ has been the use of community volunteers or ‘e-champions’ to help individuals develop skills and undertake training. It clearly links with and is related to ‘learning by stealth’ and support for users. See for example the case study of Sunderland and ‘local people as e-champions’ which has been described above.


Developing a User Perspective

6.1 Introduction

Awareness, access and skills and training, which were the focus of the previous chapter, provide the framework for enabling socially excluded individuals, households and communities to benefit from ICT. But if local e-government is going to contribute to achieving social inclusion, it is essential to identify services that are of importance to excluded households and communities. There are, however, a number of dimensions to adopting a user perspective.

Firstly, whilst the principle appears straightforward, it is important to note that the benefits and impact of ICT vary depending on the characteristics of the user and the way it is used. For instance users with impaired vision may obtain considerable benefits from using ICT to access information (perhaps through large print or automated reading software) that they might not otherwise be able to access. The benefits of these technologies to sighted users could be negligible, but to disadvantaged users they could be invaluable. Equally, disabled users with a physical impairment or those unable to travel easily might be able to access information and/or obtain shopping and other services more easily using ICT. Mainstream retailers are increasingly selling online the types of products that these users are likely to seek. Moreover during the first half of this decade both the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Treasury’s ‘Invest to Save Budget’ programme have funded a number of research projects that focus on vulnerable groups and online shopping.46 It is therefore important to consider the user perspective of different types of socially excluded groups.

Secondly, drawing on evidence from a number of reviews and research studies,47 it is helpful to compare information sought by internet and non-internet users. The graph below illustrates the differences between these two groups in searching for information:

46 See, for example, Barlow J & Breeze M (2005): Teleshopping for Older and Disabled People: York, JRF.47 See, for example Foley P et al (2002): The Digital Divide in a World City: London, GLA.


Figure 5: Information Sought by Internet and Non-Internet Users

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Childcare

Job opportunities

Health

Local events

Training & education

Benefits

Government & Council

Learning from home

Percentage of participants that required or sought the information

Online information soughtby Internet users in thelast year.Information required byInternet non-users in thelast year.

Info

rmat

ion

topi

c

This highlights that the priority information areas which ICT needs to help facilitate access to are information on government and council services, benefits, training and education and local events. These are the types of information that are most frequently required by Internet non-users. It will therefore show non-internet users how ICT can help to provide information that is currently central to their needs. At the same time, the graph shows that non-internet users need to be encouraged to make additional use of ICT to search for information on employment opportunities and health issues. This, as was pointed out in the previous chapter, requires the development of a marketing and advertisement strategy to promote the use of ICT.

Thirdly, the focus on a user perspective requires two interrelated developments:

• joined-up and collaborative working between councils and other key stakeholders that moves ICT and local e-government from an organisational perspective towards an approach based on the requirements of households and communities that are socially excluded

• involvement of households and communities in the development and enhancement of ICT and local e-government

This chapter, therefore, initially focuses on moving forward on partnership working. This is followed by a focus on community and user involvement. The final section of this chapter highlights specific examples of how the types of information that users are likely to require can be accessed to tackle social inclusion through local e-government.


6.2 Collaborative Approach

The principle of a user focus requires that local e-government adopts a collaborative approach involving local authorities and other key stakeholders. This has a number of interrelated dimensions including:

• joined-up front office services: This involves, firstly, ensuring that information and services are available to a consistently high standard irrespective of how and when the user accesses material. Secondly it requires that information and services are available from many organisations at a range of ‘one stop shops’

• collaboration on back office functions so enabling information and access to services to be available from a variety of sources irrespective of organisational responsibilities

• strategic partnerships involving key stakeholders that set out the vision and policy framework for tackling social exclusion through ICT: As was pointed out in chapter five, the role of councils as strategic enablers is crucial in this respect

Derwentside District Council illustrates how a strategic collaborative approach has developed over the last decade with its leadership and enabling role for the West Durham Rural Network. Key features include community involvement and consultation at both strategic and project levels, broad ranging membership, development and delivery of back office infrastructure, and an explicit focus on disadvantaged groups and neighbourhoods.

Derwentside and the West Durham Rural Network

In trying to deliver with partners the broad ICT strategy for the area, Derwentside Council was instrumental in establishing the West Durham Rural Network with support from Rural Challenge Funding. The network involves key stakeholders including the County and District Councils, the health sector, major local employers and community organisations.

The objective of the project was to create a cross-sector network ‘to work in partnership to enhance competitiveness, promote community participation and enable the delivery of priority services improving the quality of life and learning opportunities in targeted rural areas through the development of telematics applications and the extension of community networks’. The initiative was focused on promoting community participation, through measures which supported the voluntary sector and local self-help initiatives to secure access to the IT network by all members of the community, but particularly the most disadvantaged. More specifically, it was focussed on reversing the decline in rural services by undertaking research and pilot services necessary to establish ‘on-line’ community safety, health, local authority and community transport services in target wards.


Similarly, Derwentside has taken a leadership role in developing specific initiatives such as the SWIFT (uSer orientated and Workflow Integrated FederaTion of services providers for the elderly) project to meet the health, social care and housing needs of older/disabled people. This is a European research project on enhanced care for older people with Derwentside acting as the main co-ordinator of the scheme. This specific project illustrates the importance of, firstly, involving key agencies, secondly, joining up back office ICT systems, and thirdly, delivering a one-stop shop solution whereby older/disabled people can gain access to information and services online.

Major priorities within this cross-sector partnership have included:

• encouraging the development of active communities which are keen to take the initiative to improve their quality of life by facilitating the exchange of ideas and information through the establishment of on-line networks connecting partners within the targeted area

• improving access to employment opportunities for residents through improved business links and training for the information society

• ensuring necessary telecommunications infrastructure is in place to support 15 public sector organisations, 40 businesses and 130 voluntary sector and community groups operating in targeted wards

The majority of initiatives have been undertaken after community consultation. Research and baseline analysis are undertaken as a first stage to scope problems and opportunities. However, this analysis is supplemented with resident surveys or community meetings. For example, the consultation for the setting up of the West Durham Rural Networks involved over 300 individual households, 70 businesses, 15 public sector organisations and nearly 100 voluntary and community groups. Feedback from consultation has been important in developing and refining projects to better meet community needs.


Derwentside SWIFT Project

This project for the co-ordinated on-line delivery of health and social care to elderly and disabled is an example of the use of ICT to better deliver services to the local community.

The project was developed by the District Council, the Primary Care Trust, the County Council’s IT and Social Services departments, local GPs, the Derwentside Carers Forum and a number of residents who participated in the development of the initiative. The goal of the project was to ‘satisfy the needs of social, welfare and health service providers, serving elderly/disabled persons at home’.

From a back office perspective, SWIFT was about creating an IT architecture (software) which would enable partners such as the County Council (Social Services, IT), the Primary Care Trust (GPs, District Nurses, etc.), and the District Council (eg Careline, Meals on Wheels, Housing) to co-ordinate their services to older and disabled people. This means that by enabling the sharing of data, service providers would be able to plan better, avoid missed appointments, and generally contribute towards an integrated care package for the individual. The elderly/disabled individual would be able from the comfort of their own home to order repeat prescriptions or housing repairs on-line, or they would be able to request appointments or cancel already booked visits. In addition they would be able at any point in time to see their individual care package on-line, ie who will be visiting them and what services they will deliver, when do they have to go for tests, etc.

The Cambridgeshire Partnership illustrates the importance of establishing a strategic infrastructure for ICT. The Cambridgeshire Community Network (CNN) provides a broadband framework for the sub-region. As a result of this, online sites in local neighbourhoods are able to access high quality information on services even in small remote rural communities. In developing this infrastructure at the micro-scale priority has been given to areas that have traditionally lacked access to services.

This case study, therefore, illustrates the importance of ensuring appropriate ICT infrastructure to facilitate the development of services relevant to local needs. Community and user involvement (see Section 6.3 below) in the design and delivery of specific projects then takes place within the parameters set by the infrastructure provision.


Cambridgeshire Community Network

Cambridgeshire County Council’s PFI project, the Cambridgeshire Community Network, provides the infrastructure to deliver services and information online to users. It establishes a broadband ‘backbone’ between Cambridge, Ely, March and Huntingdon. From these points, CCN branches out into towns and villages, connecting sites from libraries to learning centres, and post offices to pubs.

The CCN is a public-private partnership led by the County Council and including district, town and parish councils, the Cambridgeshire Grid for Learning (E2B), Cambridgeshire NHS, Cambridgeshire Lifelong Learning Partnership and other voluntary and community groups.

Partly as a result of the on-going development of this infrastructure, district councils have instigated projects to deliver broadband services to local communities and villages. This raised local awareness as villages invited to participate in the project received a presentation informing them of the contribution that it could make to the issue of closing the digital divide.

Villages were selected based on the availability of a suitable location, their score on the Indices of Deprivation (access to services) and the degree of support for ICT learning facilities as indicated in community appraisals, parish planning exercises and village surveys.

6.3 Community and User Involvement

The example of the Cambridgeshire Community Network (CNN) illustrates the importance of establishing an appropriate framework for community and user involvement. The design and implementation of strategic sub-regional ICT infrastructure is unlikely to be seen as an issue of direct relevance by local communities. Of much greater significance for local groups and users is the nature and types of projects that can be facilitated by infrastructure.

In both rural and urban areas, there have been a number of examples of the development of self-publishing systems for local communities and voluntary groups. These have included the Welland Partnership Community Website Initiative that has been developed with ROL (formerly Rutland Online Ltd) and the Local E-Publish scheme.


Welland Partnership Community Portals

These community portals were developed to be for the community and by the community. As the main aim was to get local communities using and interacting with the portals, it was important to develop a system that was straightforward to use. ROL developed a ‘portal partner’ system that enabled users to put information onto the relevant local portal. The sites (see below) were aimed at benefiting all sections of the local community:

• residents benefit from having access to information about local and council services and community information, such as events

• businesses benefit from having free listings of in a business directory as well as the opportunity to have more information available for a small additional cost

• jobs can also be posted to the sites and viewed sub-regionally free of charge

• visitors benefit from having easy access to accommodation listings, local and village/town information

The community websites/portals have been based around the following market towns in the Welland Sub-Region:

• Bourne – Lincolnshire

• Grantham – Lincolnshire

• Lutterworth – Leicestershire

• Market Harborough – Leicestershire

• Melton Mowbray – Leicestershire

• Oakham – Rutland

• Oundle – Northamptonshire

• Rushden – Northamptonshire

• Stamford – Lincolnshire

• The Deepings – Lincolnshire (Market Deeping and Deeping St James)

• Thrapston – Northamptonshire

The technical solution cuts across organisational and geographical boundaries and links public, private, voluntary and community sectors in one geographically based portal for each town. They provide a 24/7 service on a self-help basis, subject to access.

The portals are map based and designed to meet the needs of citizens and communities. The common structure and functionality across the sub-region’s portals has enabled speedy access to appropriate services and information.


Local E-Publish Scheme

ENCORE (Environment and Community Online Residents’ E-Services) was developed as part of the local e-government national projects scheme. It was aimed at enabling residents and communities to access information on environmental services.

As part of local directgov developments, an e-community publishing system has been added to improve functionality. The aim has been to e-enable local communities (eg parish councils) and voluntary sector organisations. A local e-publishing system has been developed that has been piloted by Essex County Council, Surrey County Council and the Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames. Voluntary sector groups, parish councils and schools have used this system.

The lesson from these types of schemes is that facilitating community and user involvement involves a number of inter-related dimensions including:

• ensuring that projects take account of local situation: In some cases, there may, for instance, be active community groups willing to manage, organise and run ICT facilities and services (such as websites). In other situations, there may be a more dispersed pattern of settlement with no active groups

• developing initiatives that meet specific identified explicit needs such as training and skills development

• building on or extending existing projects that individuals and local communities already use eg libraries, village shops, community centres, and mobile service facilities

• proactively developing facilities with other partners where there is a lack of community provision. A number of projects have made use of and/or converted empty rooms in sheltered housing schemes, and underused offices of public sector organisations. Other examples include the development of new one stop shops that include ICT and internet facilities48

• ensuring that access to facilities is not over-formalised requiring, for example, booking appointments for assisted and non-assisted use. Drop-in sessions and taking trainers and e-champions to the users rather than vice-versa may be a much better way of building the confidence and trust of individual and small groups of users

• involving local people to support and advise other residents with many specific projects making use of local e-champions

6.4 Involving and Helping Potential Users

As this chapter has already indicated, there is evidence that non-users of the Internet seek information on benefits, council services, training and education

48 See Countryside Agency (2003): Setting Up One Stop Shops: Cheltenham, Countryside Agency.


and local events. It is, therefore, in principle, important to ensure that in tackling social exclusion, local e-government addresses these requirements. Examples have already been provided in this and previous chapters on how these issues have been tackled. Some of Sunderland’s Electronic Village Halls have been developed through links with the library service and higher and further education institutions leading to a focus on training and education. Liverpool City Council has placed considerable emphasis on the role of public libraries.

Liverpool City Council Library Service

As well as providing a wide range of services (such as free use of the Internet at all libraries), specific measures have been taken to target non or potential users among hard-to-reach groups. These have included:

• partnership working with other agencies to deliver support sessions through providing a ‘Learn Direct’ centre in a Library and a ‘drop-in’ study centre in collaboration with Liverpool Community College offering ICT courses for beginners

• training for library staff in using ICT to help customers

• setting up assistive technology on computers to help hard-to-reach groups

• service development programmes including a wireless network for mobile libraries to help geographically isolated communities and neighbourhoods

It is nevertheless important not to be over-prescriptive in making assumptions of what individuals and groups require. A strong emerging theme from the Beacon authorities and their partners is the need to involve and initially assess the needs of users.

Cambridge Partnership

The Cambridgeshire Partnership places considerable emphasis on user learning assessment. This involves both an evaluation of ICT skills and the potential use of facilities and services. It enables appropriate support to be made available including basic skills for those who have little knowledge of ICT. Training includes a range of learning software that can be delivered in formal sessions or accessed by users on their own once they have registered.


Knowsley Borough Council

Knowsley Borough Council has a strategy though its e-community and learning group to develop the appropriate skills in order for customers to be able to access electronic facilities. For example, each of the ICT locations and access points provides training at a range of levels, including formal qualifications. The ICT bus has two tutors that provide basic training on ICT skills, using keyboard, mouse, menus, screens, etc. There are also three week taster courses available. It is possible to go on to undertake a twelve week course, but people must register with a local college to be able to take the course on the bus. In addition, the district’s libraries run homework clubs and single parents are able to access the crèche facilities at the libraries whilst they participate in the Learn Direct courses. Knowsley’s interactive digital TV includes an online e-learning facility.

In relation to helping users access information, there are a number of key service areas. These are:

• benefits: This involves a wide range of services delivered by local authorities and government departments. It is also likely to require the input of voluntary sector advice agencies such as citizens advice bureaux (CABs). Local authorities can take a lead role in developing joined-up thinking by collaborating with a wide range of agencies to provide advice and support services on benefits through call centres and websites that, at the same time, ensure equality of access

Liverpool City Council

Liverpool City Council has invested significant resources to improve the access to ICT in the City. Most people have access to a telephone, whether it is a landline or mobile phone. So, Liverpool has a strong corporate approach to promoting its call centre for customer services and social services. It now has the largest call centre for a local authority in the UK. This service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days of the year.

In addition, the City Council has implemented a network of One Stop Shops. One of the services available to staff and customers is ‘Language Line’, if translation services are required. This is a national telephone service, which will translate from English to any language. In addition, a special translation service has been set up which in particular serves the Chinese community in the city. Customers, therefore, are no longer isolated through lack of use of English.

Nevertheless, there are few if any examples of a fully joined-up approach at the local level involving advice and support covering all public sector services. But considerable progress has been made as illustrated by the Liverpool case study on corporate integration through call centres and one-stop shops.


• general government and council services: There are a number of elements of improving information availability through e-services including:

– developing websites that focus on customer/user perspectives rather than the needs of the organisation e.g. setting up websites on the basis of community portals and structuring websites making more use of ‘life episodes’ as a way of structuring information;

– ensuring that there is consistency in the scale and quality of information about each service irrespective of the provider and the mode of access (ie call centre, website and one-stop shop); and

– making use of customer relationship management software to ensure that advice and support is targeted on the needs of individuals and communities.

• training and education: There is a wide range of public, private and voluntary sector agencies involved in the provision of education and training. County councils and unitary authorities (especially through their leading role in local strategic partnerships) have a pivotal role in bringing together and co-ordinating these programmes so enabling customers to have a single one-stop point of access through, for example, a website

• local events: Neighbourhood and community portals are one way in which local events can be publicised. It benefits both organisers as well as the local community

The crucial dimensions for this type of approach as illustrated by the development of community portals in Cambridgeshire and Electronic Village Halls in Sunderland are:

– appropriate infrastructure that is put in place by councils and their key partners

– development and running of portals by the community with advice and support from other agencies

– the role of local e-champions in promoting and developing the potential of community portals to neighbourhood organisations

– equipping local organisations with self-publishing skills to make use of community portals


Monitoring and Evaluation

7.1 Introduction

Evaluation of local e-government projects is essential if councils are to develop the capacity for lesson learning. More generally, monitoring and evaluation has increasingly become a central feature of public policy. Three interlinked elements are of significance. These are, firstly, the monitoring of outputs ie are policies and projects delivered on time and to budget? Secondly there is the evaluation of the outcomes ie are the aims, objectives and detailed targets being achieved? Thirdly there is the lesson learning phase ie modifying projects and policies on the basis of the evaluation of outputs and outcomes. The latter is especially important as it focuses attention on the relationship between policy making and evaluation. It is vital to understand what works, for whom, in what circumstances and why in order to improve policy. This, of course, links into a frequently quoted phrase of ‘what matters is what works’.

Nevertheless, there are major interrelated challenges in ensuring the adequacy and relevance of evaluation. Firstly, there is the current reality of a complex arrangement of public, voluntary and private sector organisations involved in the design and delivery of tackling social exclusion through local e-government. The case studies and examples in the previous chapters, drawn primarily from the five Beacon authorities. illustrate both the necessity for collaborative working and the challenge of ensuring effective partnerships. Each stakeholder has its own agendas and aims, and thus evaluation of outputs and outcomes becomes particularly challenging.

Secondly, lesson learning has been based on an assumption of an organisational approach associated with bureaucratic hierarchies and the ability to adopt a ‘command and control’ approach. The growing emphasis on complex local governance, and especially partnerships, makes this style of policy making less useful. Hence, the ability to ensure that policy changes follow on from evaluation is highly demanding. In this respect, the emphasis on local government as a strategic enabler is particularly interesting (see chapter four). Monitoring and evaluation within a strategic enabling environment is a difficult but necessary task, while a further complexity is added in ensuring that those who are enabled learn and adopt the lessons as part of evidence-based policy making.

Thirdly, the diversity and overlapping nature of the ever-increasing number of initiatives at a local level for talking social exclusion through ICT makes evaluation a formidable activity. Evaluating outcomes is potentially challenging as it is extremely difficult to assess what has worked and why in an environment of multiple overlapping projects often aimed at the same customer groups. In each of the Beacon authorities, there is a number of projects that focus on improving access to ICT for socially excluded groups.


Fourthly, there is the issue of the nature and quality of evaluation. Frequently, the emphasis is on the delivery of projects on time and within budget and learning the lessons on issues such as managing projects and collaborative working. The achievement of better services and products for customers and communities (ie outcomes) is under-researched. There are a number of reasons for this situation including, for example, the time-constrained nature of initiatives that make it exceedingly difficult to evaluate outcomes rather than outputs. Linked to this point, there is often a narrow focus with efficiency and economy measures rather than those of effectiveness and equity. For example, many local e-government projects have been implicitly geared towards monitoring and evaluation to ensure that services are available online by the end of 2005. The emphasis can be on outputs (ie services online) rather than outcomes such as improving the quality of life for communities and customers.

Nevertheless, despite these difficulties, the Beacon authorities illustrate that robust monitoring and evaluation can be undertaken that results in improvements to policies and projects. The next section of this chapter considers outputs ie ensuring that projects and policies are delivered on time and within budget. This is followed by a focus on outcomes, while the chapter concludes with a discussion on how to take forward monitoring and evaluation in relation to lesson learning.

7.2 Outputs

As has already been noted, the evaluative emphasis in many projects and policies has been on outputs ie delivering projects on time and within the resource envelope. More generally, this has been seen as a major issue in public sector ICT. As Cross has noted49, plans for modernising public services depend on a large number of major projects. Drawing on a study by the London School of Economics50, he highlights that complex and large ICT projects have a poor delivery track record citing issues such as size, lack of appropriate skills, procurement processes, multiplicity of partners (see Section 6.2 (p. 62) above), and policy ‘creep’. Although the nature of local e-government projects has been different from those at a national scale, they nevertheless are faced with issues over commissioning and procurement, a multiplicity of stakeholders, changing and developing policies and project management issues. Even so, the five Beacon authorities illustrate how these issues can be addressed. Furthermore, there are important lessons to be learnt on, for example, having dedicated staff, taking a project management approach and utilising skills and expertise of private and voluntary sector partners.

The Cambridgeshire Partnership robustly and regularly monitors outputs. The successful delivery of these outputs can be traced to successful partnership working.

49 Cross M (2005): Public Sector IT Failures: Prospect, October, pp 48–52. 50 Dunleavy P & Margetts H (2006): Digital Era Governance – IT Corporations, the State and E-Government: Oxford, Oxford

University Press.


Cambridgeshire Partnership Outputs

Output achievements in the early part of this decade included:

• 40 community access points in East Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire

• over 3000 users (including lone parents, the elderly, disabled, socially isolated and low skilled and those with mental health issues)

• 60 per cent of learners progressing onto further training

• by summer 2000, more than 300 council buildings, including offices, schools and libraries, plus community access points (eg pubs and post offices) were being linked through the Cambridgeshire Community Network (CNN)

These were achieved because of a successful joint working. The CCN is a public-private partnership led by the County Council and including District, Town and Parish Councils, the Cambridgeshire Grid for Learning (E2B), Cambridgeshire NHS, Cambridgeshire Lifelong Learning Partnership and voluntary and community groups. It thus includes all key stakeholders that need to be involved in developing and delivering ICT to tackle social exclusion.

7.3 Outcomes

As has already been pointed out, there are a number of difficulties in undertaking an evaluation of outcomes. These include the overlapping nature of projects and policies as well as the time-constrained nature of many externally funded initiatives. There has, therefore, been relatively fewer attempts to monitor and evaluate outcomes ie the substantive difference that a project has made and whether the effects be attributed to its impact. The interrelated reasons for the lack of outcome evaluation include:

• external funding being often tied to the delivery of project within budget and to a fixed timescale ie outputs rather than outcomes

• failure to build in at the planning and initiation stages pre and post project evaluation so that before and after comparisons can be drawn out

• undertaking robust evaluation where the outcomes from a project can be identified separately from the impact of other schemes and factors

In the few cases, where evaluation has taken place on outcomes, the focus has been on short-term immediate effects with an emphasis on quantitative outcomes such as the proportion of households who make regular use of the Internet. But there is also a need for a qualitative approach that investigates, for instance, why people are now making use of ICT. It is vital to find out in a robust way whether and how local projects have made a difference from a user perspective. An increasing number of local authorities are tackling this issue by linking ICT evaluation to broader user satisfaction studies. Derwentside is a useful example of how one of the Beacon authorities has developed this type of approach.


Derwentside Evaluation

Derwentside District Council developed a number of mechanisms to consult with stakeholders about service quality, including access to and use of ICT. These included:

• a Citizens Panel (established in 1997 and comprising 1,400 residents) which is broadly representative of the population and is consulted on satisfaction with services

• Tenants Compact Panel and the Joint Area Forums were initiated in partnership with Durham County Council and the Primary Care Trusts and also assess service satisfaction

• the Local Strategic Partnership (Derwentside Partnership)

• consultation is also carried out through a number of existing partnerships such as the Local Regeneration Partnership, the Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership, the Health Improvement Group, the Education and Training Forum, the Environmental & Housing Partnership and the Economic Development Forum

Each of these mechanisms had broad representation from public agencies, community/voluntary sector, and the private sector. These mechanisms together with more specific evaluation of individual projects enabled the local authority and its partners to conclude that there has been widespread satisfaction with the ICT work and projects that Derwentside District Council has undertaken. These are illustrated by:

• the satisfaction of the local communities through the early work of the Infonet and the provision of PCs, internet connection, and training. This culminated in strong support from elected members in committing funding to continue this work from the late 1990s onwards

• community satisfaction meant that various groups and community partnerships increasingly pressurised the Council to expand these activities across Derwentside. This is how the council moved from local initiatives (eg Stanley Infonet and Consett Infonet) to the district-wide Derwentside Infonet

• partner satisfaction with the early work undertaken and the resultant encouragement in using ICT for social inclusion purposes as well as better service delivery, meant that a wide variety of important projects were put together

• the satisfaction from customers translated to increased business activity for the Derwentside IT department that had reached a turnover of nearly £1 million by the beginning of 2004

• the leading role that Derwentside District Council has played and is still asked to play in County Durham as part of establishing a County-wide broadband network

• the exemplary work undertaken which meant that Derwentside ICT activities became known beyond regional borders, to government levels and across to Europe. This, as has already been pointed out, resulted in Derwentside taking the leading role on the SWIFT Project


7.4 Taking Evaluation Forward and Lesson Learning

High quality outcome evaluation should go side-by-side with output studies, so that lessons can be learnt about what works and why. This will help to facilitate policy transfer and the dissemination of best practice to other local authorities and their partners.

In its submission for Beacon status51 in 2002, Knowsley Borough Council highlighted that:

“As projects develop it is also important to re-visit the relevance of delivery mechanisms to ensure ongoing satisfaction with services and to build changing requirements into future development. Knowsley uses surveys before, during and after to engender the broadest range of engagement. These range from small project based research to major consultation processes.”

This emphasises, firstly, the importance of user satisfaction surveys in monitoring and evaluation. Secondly it points to the importance of both specific user studies of projects as well as overall satisfaction results. Thirdly, it focuses attention on taking responsive action in the light of user studies to improve and modify projects and services.

In addition, Knowsley Council have adopted a monitoring and evaluation approach based on both breadth and depth.

Local E-Government Evaluation in Knowsley

Knowsley Borough Council carried out:

• regular major ICT surveys via the ‘Knowsley Voice’ – a citizens’ panel

• post-implementation and progress reviews of projects

• formal independent appraisal of projects including, for example, kiosk perception and utilisation (Manchester Business School) and CD-Rom utilisation (Liverpool University). Findings included:

• an ICT bus has been able to fill IT skills gaps, giving users the confidence to go to the fixed learning centres

• young people accessing the playgroups and community centres have been able to access the facilities in one place, rather than having to make a special trip to the library thus encouraging them to do their homework

• the Ruffwood @ Home project meant that many people benefited from the PCs, for example, friends and family also accessed the PC

• taking action to improve projects following on from monitoring and evaluation. For instance, a PCs in Homes project was monitored and lessons were learnt as it was found that there needed to be an exit strategy built into these types of projects to ensure that some sort of service to the users was able to continue once the project funding had ended

51 Knowsley MBC (2002): Beacon Council Scheme 2002 – Application Form: Huyton, Knowsley MBC, p 4.


Overall, evaluation is, however, more than just about the achievement of outputs and outcomes. Lesson learning on how to improve the development and delivery of projects (ie outputs) and the attainment of aims and objectives are crucial.

Derwentside District Council illustrates how lessons have been drawn from the monitoring and evaluation that are subsequently being applied to current and future initiatives.

Derwentside and Lesson Learning

Derwentside District Council considers that there are a number of key messages that were highlighted as important in developing ICT projects and initiatives through monitoring and evaluation. These were:

• the importance of ICT in promoting social inclusion and, more generally, socio-economic development

This has reinforced the Council and its partner’s strategy of incorporating local e-government and tackling social exclusion with a broader economic regeneration approach.

• the importance of consulting with and involving the community to identify needs and plan together actions to address gaps in provision

In particular, monitoring and evaluation of specific projects has shown that children as catalysts and enthusiasts in promoting projects and initiatives with family members and friends is vital in encouraging take up and continued use of ICT.

• the need for effective partnership working with key stakeholders (and local communities) in achieving common goals

• the role of the Council as a strategic enabler (see chapter four)

In particular, local authorities have a lead role in chasing and co-ordinating funding opportunities so that they tie in with existing projects.


Bringing it all Together

8.1 Introduction

Over the last decade, there have been an increasing number of innovative ICT projects that have been geared to tackling social exclusion. A number of these have been highlighted in previous chapters. Projects have been resourced in many ways including, for instance, through a number of government-funding streams such as the Treasury’s annual Invest to Save Budget (ISB) and Communities and Local Government programmes such as e-innovation. In addition, many local authorities have developed specific ICT schemes as part of local e-government and housing and anti-poverty programmes.

There is, however, a danger that these types of schemes can be silo’d ie they comprise useful initiatives that unfortunately are not integrated or mainstreamed with other projects and are not part of a comprehensive strategy. The five Beacon Councils and a number of other local authorities have succeeded in making a much more positive difference in tackling social exclusion through ICT by bringing together initiatives and strategies.

This chapter centres on co-ordinating and integrating specific initiatives so that the outcomes are greater than the sum of the benefits from individual projects. It, first of all, sets out a framework with illustrated examples for bringing together projects and strategies. This is followed by a discussion of how this integration can be achieved.

8.2 Framework

There are four components in bringing together projects and strategies and these are listed below. The key message is that there needs to be an effective integration of strategy and the delivery of individual projects ie the implementation of policy:





It is strongly recommended that local authorities and their partners make use of this framework in thinking strategically about the relationship between local e-government and social inclusion.


These elements have been drawn together in the diagram below:

Figure 6: Overall Framework: Components for bringing together Local E-Government Projects and Strategies for promoting Social Inclusion

Operational Activities Focus of the

Initiative

Awareness Policy andStrategy

Access

Partnership &Resources Skills and

Training

Use of Services

Lead

ersh

ip

PeopleOutputs &Learning

ICT Im

plementation

The enhanced strategic enabling and community strategy functions (represented by the blue boxes in figure 6, see chapter 4) are highlighted in broad terms through the Local Government Act 2000, and the role of promoting the economic, environmental and social well-being of the area. Strategic enabling and community strategy functions involve a number of specific interlinked dimensions including:

• leadership by senior politicians and officers through the activities of e-champions internally within the council and externally through bodies such as local strategic partnerships

• an enabling role that itself has two collaborative components:

– encouraging and persuading other public, private and voluntary sector organisations to provide appropriate services and integrate their activities within a broader strategy

– supporting local communities and neighbourhoods to meet their needs and resolve their problems.

• policy making and strategy development through a range of policy plans including local e-government strategies and community plans/strategies

• building up capacity within and between organisations on skills/knowledge on using ICT to promote social inclusion

Derwentside usefully illustrates the strategic enabling and community leadership dimension. Transforming the local economy and promoting social inclusion has been a long term objective. During the 1980s and early 1990s unemployment rates were over 20 per cent and nearly half of the wards were within the worst 10 per cent of all wards nationally on multiple deprivation.


Derwentside: Strategic Leadership

A strategic direction for regeneration and clear role for ICT were presented in the 1997 Derwentside ICT strategy review. This encapsulated the council’s philosophy and focused on three strands of ICT work:

1. to develop the council as an ICT Centre of Excellence

2. a community strand to enable Derwentside to join the information society

3. a business strand to encourage economic growth and entrepreneurial culture

This strategy document and complementary policies provided a clear vision and forward looking approach which have provided a long term approach to problems and solutions.

Implementation and development of this vision has been undertaken with clear leadership and support from a wide range of individuals and groups. Interviewees highlighted the significance of effective relationships between council officers and elected members.

Derwentside Council objectives and policies have been supported by many different groups. Partnership has been central to the development and success of many initiatives. Significant projects to address social exclusion have been developed with many organisations including Health Trusts, doctors, schools and FE colleges, community and voluntary groups, and local businesses. Partnership and consultation has also extended to the local community.

Both the Council and partners have been tenacious in chasing funding opportunities and in dealing effectively with opportunities and problems.

From a project perspective, many initiatives have been established through time-limited external funding streams (see Section 2.3 (p. 23) above). The emphasis is often on delivering outputs within budget. While these requirements should not be minimised, there are two other considerations of equal if not greater importance. First of all, there is a need to ensure that projects are mainstreamed and that there is an exit strategy when the time-limited funding runs out. Secondly, it is important (as was highlighted in the previous chapter) that there is a focus on outcomes as well as outputs ie the impact of the initiative against its aims and objectives.

At the same time, the projects output and outcomes have to be related to the broader strategy and community leadership role. This is illustrated by the Cambridgeshire Partnership project


Cambridgeshire Partnership

The community leadership role does not necessarily have to be taken in every case by local authorities though it is important for councils to co-ordinate initiatives.

A key element of the Cambridgeshire Partnership was to significantly increase the number of ICT access points in the community. Each of the partners were then able to set their own specific targets and outcomes once the output of ICT access points was achieved/being delivered. The local Learning and Skills Council (LSC) set a range of targets that have been monitored and evaluated. For example:

• 300 New Learners: There were 3,213 by the end of the initial A2L (access to learning) project. The initial end project date was December 2003 but there was further funding through the Learning and Skills Council, who set the targets for the Cambridgeshire Partnership

• 1,500 Completing Learners: There were 1,628 learners that had completed by project deadline – learners were assessed and asked what they would like to achieve, and once they had achieved their goal that has been seen as a completion

• 1,500 Learners Progressing onto Further Learning: 2,680 learners progressed onto additional education at a level further than their original learning goal

A fundamental bridging element between strategy and implementation is the identification of appropriate and relevant e-services that can help to tackle social exclusion. The key point is that it is essential to make the connection between broader local e-government strategies and policies and the needs of socially excluded households and communities.

Liverpool City Council and Customer Services

Liverpool City Council carried out an audit as part of a best value review of its customer service and ICT. It found that it had over 132 reception areas, 220 computer systems and 500 databases. These systems and procedures were not talking to each other and as a consequence, there were high ICT costs. The authority decided to invest in a generic system, thus allowing staff to be able to undertake any number of jobs with the ICT, rather than one specialised function.

Central to its ICT policies and strategies has been the customer with the council committed to promoting innovation and improvements to service delivery. It has aimed to be at the forefront of electronic delivery, and most importantly placing the customer at the heart of everything.

In its Beacon submission Liverpool City Council emphasised the importance of its citizens/customers, in that they must be able to:

1. contact the city council on any matter at any time of the day

2. ensure that problems are dealt with on first point of contact (as often as possible)


The emphasis on awareness, access, skills and training has been emphasised in a previous chapter. A major challenge is to reach a balance and consensus between broad strategies and local community requirements. This is clearly seen in the case study of Sunderland and its Electronic Village Halls.

Sunderland and Electronic Village Halls

The Electronic Village Halls (EVH) initiative brings together awareness, access, skills and training elements. It is based on a community EVH ICT strategy. This identified through a vetting process a further 13 community groups that could establish an EVH. There will be a consistent level of service/provision based on facilitation, opening times, advice. Each EVH is provided with a start-up package including personal computers, smart card readers and facilities for the visually impaired.

At the same time, each EVH has been developed to reflect local requirements. In one case, a distributed EVH has been established. This ‘hub’ was provided with funds to network geographically dispersed community groups and establish some central technical support. Each group has maintained its independence to ensure it can directly address the needs of its uses and clients. A key theme has been about taking the technology to where the people are. Access workers have been put in place to provide local support. These people are known to the local community. Capital grant enabled ADSL broadband to be installed enabling several PCs at each of the six centres to be connected.

3. carry out any transactions relating to the citizen/council electronically

4. access the local authority electronically from home or identified terminals in convenient locations

Liverpool City Council has identified five key initiatives with respect to social inclusion and ICT:

1. establishing a customer contact strategy for the local authority and its key partners

2. working towards inclusive education and social care practices

3. monitoring and tracking ‘at risk’ groups to develop quality data to inform service planning and delivery

4. developing older people programmes and learning from older people’s experiences

5. utilising ICT to provide appropriate and timely translation services


8.3 Integrating Policy and Delivery

There is no single best fit approach. In some cases, specific local initiatives have followed on from the development of broader strategies and policies eg Liverpool and its customer services orientation, and Derwentside and its ICT strategy for economic regeneration and social and community cohesion. But it is equally relevant to develop ideas from the bottom-up. An example of this latter type of approach is the Cambridgeshire Partnership and its pragmatic and opportunistic approach for delivering access points at the local level.

Nevertheless, there are a number of emerging themes on how to improve the effectiveness of the implementation of policy. These focus on the role of local authorities and include:

• building the capacity to develop and implement policies: This requires, for example, collaborative working between public, private, voluntary and community organisations. Some local authorities have established ICT forums that meet regularly to help to provide a strategic framework and monitor outcomes

• clarifying the roles and responsibilities of organisations: The key point is the need to identify the wide range of organisations that are likely to be involved in tackling social exclusion through ICT. A sub-element is for each organisation to consider the funding and resource opportunities that it can bring to the issue

• defining the leadership role: Local authorities through their e-champions have a leadership role in both the development of policy and its delivery. It needs to incorporate a number of elements including:

– ensuring an awareness and analysis of the relevance of national and regional policies

– building and strengthening partnerships for tackling social exclusion through ICT

– monitoring initiatives

– ensuring the evaluation of projects and identifying and publicising the lessons that can be learnt for future schemes

• making the implementation of policies effective and efficient by overseeing and co-ordinating ICT activities for tackling social exclusion so that, for instance, duplication of projects and services is avoided


Conclusions and RecommendationsThis study reports on best practice among local authorities in England in 2003 and 2004. There are seven key conclusions and recommendations to emerge from this research. These are highlighted in italics below. A brief discussion on each of these findings is provided.

There are a wide ranging and ever-increasing number of specific innovative initiatives being developed by local authorities and their partners to tackle social exclusion through ICT.

Our review has highlighted that many local authorities have delivered and are developing specific innovative projects to tackle social exclusion through ICT. These have often been funded through a diverse range of externally funded programmes such as the Communities and Local Government e-innovations scheme. The projects tend to focus on issues such as:

• Access to ICT

• Awareness of the potential of ICT

• Skills development

• Training

These projects are usually time-limited and there is considerable attention paid to delivering outputs on time and to budget. There are fundamental challenges in ensuring that outcomes are monitored and evaluated. This is crucial in ensuring that lessons can be learnt from such schemes. In addition, it is essential to consider an exit strategy so that successful schemes can continue, possibly through mainstreaming funding.

1. Some local authorities are making significant additional progress by joining up specific initiatives and different national and regional funding streams – a multiplier effect.

The Beacon councils and some other local authorities have taken a big step forward by locating specific initiatives within a broader strategic framework that reflects local circumstances.

This involves scanning the wider policy environment so that local policies and projects are effectively linked to national and regional strategies for tackling social exclusion and promoting ICT.

In addition, national and regional policies often involve specific funding streams that can be accessed for developing specific initiatives.


2. The strategic enabling and community leadership roles of local government are crucial in building partnership working between public, private and voluntary sector agencies in achieving social inclusion through ICT.

This study has reiterated the importance of local authorities in taking the lead role on using ICT to promote social inclusion.

This involves a community leadership role through e-champions. It also requires that councils adopt an enabling function. This necessitates developing collaborative and partnership working with a wide range of other public, private, voluntary and community organisations. It also requires local authorities to work with local communities and groups to identify and resolve issues.

The Beacon councils and other local authorities have successfully located these activities within the broader community strategy and the role of councils in promoting the economic, environmental and social well-being of the area as part of the Local Government Act 2000.

3. Sub-regional partnerships and working arrangements are an important way forward in areas where there is a two tier structure of local government – small district councils are unlikely to have the capacity, resources and responsibilities to adequately address social exclusion and ICT issues in a comprehensive co-ordinated manner.

In non-unitary areas, district councils are unlikely to have the capacity to tackle social exclusion through ICT. In such cases, there is a strong justification to develop a county-wide or sub-regional approach.

This can represent a significant challenge to local organisations. It requires the development of extensive partnership arrangements between groups of local authorities.

4. There is no readily accessible single database on innovative e-government projects for tackling social exclusion. There is an increasing danger of local authorities ‘reinventing the wheel’ and national and regional funders resourcing similar overlapping and duplicate projects.

Despite the increasing number of specific innovative projects, there is no single database of schemes. This can lead to national and regional funding bodies resourcing similar projects that have previously been developed elsewhere. In addition, local authorities could benefit from such a database by being able to further develop existing projects to meet local needs.

5. ‘Lesson learning‘ and ‘policy diffusion’ is developing particularly through the dissemination of information by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and Beacon authorities. Local authorities and their partners in the development and delivery of new initiatives are encountering similar problems that can be more effectively tackled by making use of ‘what works’ elsewhere.

The Beacon councils together with the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) have played an important and useful role in highlighting innovative projects for


tackling social exclusion. The seminars, visits and workshops have provided other local authorities with the opportunity to learn lessons from the experiences of cutting edge councils and their partners.

6. Thematic reviews of a small number of successful (and unsuccessful) projects could identify characteristics that lead to success and common problems and solutions. These reviews could usefully focus on, for example, community portals, public access points, ‘silver surfers’, and the needs of disadvantaged black and minority ethnic communities.

These reviews should carefully examine factors such as costs, operating structures, development, delivery, timescale, perceived and actual benefits, and returns.

There has, so far, been little attempt to bring together and consolidate learning from similar projects. We would recommend the commissioning of evaluative studies of a small number of commonly developed initiatives.

This will enable councils and their partners to become more aware of problems and solutions as part of the learning process of what works and why.

7. Dissemination of the results of these reviews would enable local authorities to fast track progress on developing and delivering ICT initiatives to promote social inclusion. Councils and their partners would be more fully aware of the benefits and challenges of such initiatives.


ReferencesAlcock P et al., 1995. Combating Local Poverty, Luton: LGMB

Barlow J & Breeze M, 2005. Teleshopping for Older and Disabled People – An Evaluation of Two Pilot Trials, York: JRF

Cabinet Office, 2005. Connecting the UK – the Digital Strategy, London: Cabinet Office

Commission for Rural Communities, 2005. Beyond Digital Divides? – The Future for ICT in Rural Areas, Cheltenham: CRC

Countryside Agency, 2003. Setting Up One Stop Shops – A Good Practice Handbook on Linking Services in Market Towns, Cheltenham: Countryside Agency

Cross M, 2005. Public Sector IT Failures, Prospect, October, pp 48–52

CURDS, 2003. Local E-Government – Process Evaluation of the Implementation of Electronic Local Government in England, London: ODPM

DCMS and Chartered Institute of Housing, 2005. Digital Switchover – A Good Practice Briefing, Coventry: CIH

Devins D et al., 2003. Connecting Communities to the Internet, London: DfES

Dunleavy P & Margetts H, 2006. Digital Era Governance – IT Corporations, the State and E-Government, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Foley P et al., 2002. The Digital Divide in a World City, London: GLA

Graham S, 2002. Bridging Urban Digital Divides?, Urban Studies Vol 39 No 1, pp 33–56





http://www.webarchive.org.uk/pan/15454/20070428/www.lyonsinquiry.org.uk/ index.html

Keller B, 2001. Best Practices for Overcoming the Digital Divide, London: Garner Inc.

Knowsley MBC, 2002. Beacon Council Scheme 2002 – Application Form, Huyton: Knowsley MBC, p 4

National Statistics, August 2006. Internet Access – Households and Individuals








ODPM, 2002. National Strategy for Local E-Government, London: ODPM

ODPM, 2002. Plan Rationalisation Study Report, London: ODPM

ODPM, 2003. National Strategy for Local E-Government – One Year On, London: ODPM

ODPM, 2003. Sustainable Communities – Building for the Future, London: ODPM

ODPM, 2004. The Future of Local Government – A Ten Year Vision, London: ODPM

ODPM, 2005. Making it Happen in Neighbourhoods – The National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal Four Years On, London: ODPM

ODPM, 2005. Sustainable Communities – Homes for All, London: ODPM

ODPM, 2005. Two Years On – Realising the Benefits from our Investment in E-Government, London: ODPM

Osborne D & Gaebler T, 1993. Reinventing Government, Reading MA: Addison-Wesley

Policy Action Team 15, 2000. Closing the Digital Divide – Information and Communication Technologies in Deprived Areas, London: DTI

Russell N & Drew N, 2001. ICT Access and Use, London: DfEE

Social Exclusion Unit, 1998. Bringing Britain Together – A National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal, London: HMSO

Social Exclusion Unit, 2001. A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal, London: SEU

Van Winden W, 2001. The End of Social Exclusion?, Regional Studies Vol 35 No 9, pp 861–868

Documents

Local e-Government and Social Inclusion - CORE · PDF fileLocal e-Government and Social Inclusion Moving from a digital divide to social inclusion in 2003 and 2004 ... Professor Simon