Page 1

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

Appendix 1 - Newham & London Connects

Given the nature of London, some priority outcomes, and the need to ensure value

foe money, have, of necessity, a dimension which goes beyond the boundaries of

individual service- providing organisations, and therefore requires partnership

working at both a sub-regional and London-wide level.

As part of the necessary response, the London Borough of Newham has supported

the establishment, development and recognition of the London Connects partnership

as the pan-London e-Government agency to act as a driver, co-ordinator, and where

appropriate, service delivery vehicle for London-wide e-Government initiatives. The

Borough has also been involved in the development of the London wide e-strategy

and is supportive of the Northeast London sub-regional partnership.

In its first year, London Connects has been involved in a number of pan-London

projects, in sub-regional partnership working, and in and some National Framework

Projects on behalf of constituent authorities, acting as a regional co-ordination centre.

This role is evolving and will continue to do so, informed and guided by the cross

agency and cross sector London Connects Steering Group.

The London Borough of Newham is represented along with other boroughs, and key

public and private sector partners, in a wide range of initiatives through partnership

working; with London Connects and with both geographic sub-regional and thematic

partnerships. We are particularly involved in the NE London partnership where we

are jointly developing the following initiatives /projects:

• e-Procurement (London Marketplace)

• e-Democracy (Integrated Electronic Democracy & Information Support Services)

• Working with Health

Over the next year the Borough will be seeking to increase partnership working in

• Addressing pan-London security requirements (BS 7766)

• Supporting the development of the London Portal.

• Building with London on the Newham Southwark and TfL Smart Card projects.

• Developing the means to ensure London-wide adoption of the products of the

sub-regional Pathfinder partnerships.

On a London-wide basis, the Londononline portal demonstrator now provides

a pan-London delivery mechanism for joined up, transparent, access to

services across the capital, and has deep links to the LB Newham web site. The

London Citizen Smartcard project is taking this a stage further, providing pan-

London access to council and other local services. The portal and London

smart-card will provide a valuable passport to services across authority and

organisational boundaries.

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

The Council will be involved in the development of London-wide e-infrastructure

services as these move a step closer to the exchange of information through secure

sub-regional hubs under the auspices of London Connects.

With these pan-London infrastructure projects now under development London

Connects is seeking to encourage and support further partnership working in key

areas of service delivery, and to ensure that local innovation and best practice is

rolled out across the capital. The Borough remains fully committed to partnership

working in order to provide customer-driven services, and to ensure value for money

for our residents.

.

.

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

Appendix 2 – Beacon Application, Using ICT to Promote Social Inclusion

THE BEACON COUNCIL SCHEME 2002

PART 1 – COUNCIL INFORMATION

Beacon theme for which you are

applying

Social Inclusion through ICT

Authority Name (lead authority for joint

applications)

London Borough of Newham

Contact Name

Steve Pennant

Telephone

020 8430 3720

Fax

020 8430 1504

E-mail

Steve.pennant@newham.gov.uk

Postal Address (including County)

Direct House

Bridge Road Depot

Abbey Road

Stratford

E15 3LX

Councillor with portfolio responsibility for

the theme area (if relevant)

Councillor Neil Wilson – Social Inclusion

List any other themes under which you

are applying for beacon status in 2002 (for

joint applications please list authorities

and the beacon applications they are

submitting ).

None

Do you agree to allow all information in

your application to be made available to

the public? If there is information which

you wish to remain confidential, please

give the Part and Question number of the

information, or state which annexes are

confidential (Please also clearly mark the

relevant pages of the form/attachments

with the header “CONFIDENTIAL”).

Yes

Type of authority (Unitary, County,

District, Metropolitan Borough, London

Borough) (Please list all authorities for

joint bids).

London Borough

Region in which authority is located.

London

What is the geographical size of the

authority in square kilometres?(please list

all authorities for joint bids)

41

What is the population of the area covered

by the authority?(please list all authorities

for joint bids)

240,000

What is the revenue budget requirement

of the authority for 2002/2003?(please list

all authorities for joint bids)

£380M

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

PART 2 – THEME CRITERIA

1. Please summarise (in 1 or 2 paragraphs) the excellent practice for which you are

seeking beacon status.

The Newham vision, which is shared by local partners, is that by 2010 Newham will

be a place where people choose to live and work. Technology is one of the keys to

achieving the vision – not just because it can make the Council more efficient and

effective, but because it can help bring our communities together and create a more

stable and inclusive borough.

Newham Council believes that ICT can make a major contribution to social inclusion.

Community ICT projects and partnerships are aimed at boosting skills, improving

resources available to excluded groups, increasing partnership and enhancing

cultural identity. The Newham commitment to exploiting ICT to help the communities

it serves has already won recognition through our success in winning awards, this

year, for our use of ICT to promote social inclusion and e-wellbeing. However, as the

following sections illustrate, we fully understand the scale of the task remaining, and

are continuing to develop an extensive programme of projects to make a real and

sustainable improvement for the people of Newham.

Outline how you meet the six key criteria below (the criteria are explained in more

detail in the Application Brochure 2002).

i. Vision & Strategy

The overriding vision is contained in the first paragraph above. The strategy to

develop this vision is constantly updated through a process of continuous research

and improvement. In the spring of 2002 Newham Council commissioned Local

Futures consultants to produce an e-governance benchmark as one of three parallel

studies – the others were carried out for the Borough’s close collaborators on e-

government, Lewisham and Camden. The benchmarking audit focuses on the role of

e-government as a positive force for change in communities and local economies. It

was designed to consider how e-government technological capacity could be used to

meet community and economic development objectives. In summary the benchmark

found that the knowledge economy in Newham is socially exclusive. Effectively 50%

of the area’s workforce lack the knowledge and skills needed to participate in the

knowledge economy labour market. Equally, this massive knowledge-skills deficit

implies that they are socially excluded from e-government channels, information and

services. The Newham annual residents’ survey, November 2001, found that 37% of

homes in Newham had Internet access.

For sustainable e-government, Newham needs a strong knowledge economy.

Without this, the strategy will always be addressing the symptoms rather than

the causes of what we call ‘the digital divide’. The recommendations of the

report were:

• Building a socially inclusive knowledge economy should be the main goal of e-

governance in Newham. Half the workforce are not equipped to compete for the

knowledge economy jobs being generated.

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

• The Newham e-government strategy should continue to focus on electronically

enabled services delivered via a variety of channels.

• In terms of services, housing (benefits, repairs, property purchase etc) and

education & training should be priorities.

Electronic Service Delivery

Newham Council has a Public Service Agreement target to enable all services to be

provided electronically by April 2004. The programme to achieve this is set out in the

Council’s Implementing Electronic Government (IEG) statement, July 2001. The

Council must ensure that the transition from traditional to electronic service delivery

does not disadvantage those who do not have ready access to the appropriate

technology. Traditional face to face channels will need to be maintained for the

foreseeable future supplemented by self-help services, which are convenient to

access and easy to use. Additionally the programme of development includes

applications such as “Smart Cards” which may raise public disquiet over issues such

as personal identity unless well managed. The IEG Statement therefore includes an

initial “Newham Electronic Service Charter”, which is as follows:

Every Newham citizen has the right to:

I.

free internet access and e-mail from within 10 minutes walk from their home;

II.

free internet training;

III. demand that Newham agencies holding personal information will do so fairly

and lawfully for limited purposes. Personal information held will be adequate,

relevant; accurate; not kept longer than necessary; processed in accordance

with the citizen’s rights and secure;

IV. extensive support and guidance to allow young people to use the Internet

safely.

The transition to electronic services will make essential services more efficient and

effective even through face to face transactions. Perhaps the most significant

example is benefits. The benefits service has approximately 38,000 clients – over a

third of all households in the borough – and a high quality benefits service has a

significant impact upon the quality of life of our residents. Prompt and accurate

payment of benefits helps to create stable communities and good landlord / tenant

relationships. The Council plans to implement the use of smart cards to receive

benefit payment from kiosks in 2003.

The Council has established an officer level ICT in the Community sub-group to co-

ordinate community ICT projects in Newham. This sub-group reports to the Council’s

ICT Strategy Group and has links to each of the 10 Community Forums and the 6

Local Action Partnership Boards, which are themselves linked into the Local Strategic

Partnership. The members of the ICT in the Community sub-group are drawn from

Social Services, Environment, Leisure, Finance, Regeneration, Housing, Education

and Newham Online. Reports and minutes for this group may be found on

www.newham.org.uk/ict-community/index.htm

ii. Consultation

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

The Newham 2010 vision was developed in consultation with local people and

stakeholders. A cross section of some 500 local people used electronic handsets to

vote on their priorities. These were recorded and formed the basis of a community

plan. In each succeeding year similar, but increasingly large, events have taken

place. In February 2002 12,000 people attended the “Your Newham” event to hear

about how the vision was being fulfilled and to see demonstrations. ICT

demonstrations and facilities at the event were particularly popular. A further event is

being held at West Ham Football Club on the 1st and 2nd November.

The 2001 annual residents’ survey asked questions about access to ICT and found

that 37% of residents had access to the internet at home. The survey confirmed that

people in lower socio-demographic groups and older people had less access to the

internet. The Council also purchased survey information from DeMontfort University

of Leicester, which measured internet access by postcode using data from internet

service providers. The Leicester University data was standardised to take into

account socio-demographic factors. Only eight Newham wards have standardised

connection ratios below the London average. This shows that despite relatively low

percentage levels of connectivity in comparison with London, when socio-

demographic factors are taken into account the Borough is performing relatively well.

Reasons for this could be varied, but it is possible that it could be one impact of the

Council’s activities in promoting Internet use and eGovernment. However, further

research would be required to substantiate this assertion. Another factor could be

Newham’s relatively high ethnic minority population.

The Council has established 10 community forums. Each community forum is able to

make bids for local work on the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. Bids for 2002 have

yet to be assessed by the NRF but include a number of projects identified as needs

by local people themselves.

Newham Online is a very active online community with an extensive list of local

supporting organisations and groups. More information about Newham Online can be

found on www.newham.org.uk . Ideas for new projects are continuously being

brought forward, discussed and developed by the Newham Online community.

Every visitor to a Local Service Centre is asked to fill in a feedback form. Comments

and opinions are reviewed and input to the overall customer service strategy.

In the Wired Up Communities project on the Carpenters estate (see below)

community representatives are members of the project board. The community

representatives have made invaluable suggestions and provided first hand

knowledge on practicalities of other ideas.

The Council held a smart card conference on 19 September 2001, which was

attended by 80 people from some 50 organisations in Newham. Feedback has been

used to direct the project.

Newham is a pilot in a national user survey for computers in libraries (ePlus – run by

CIPFA). The first part of the survey interviewed 300 people at both Stratford and East

Ham. The questionnaire covered what was used, how often, comments on the

service quality, quality of web site, and personal profile information. 25% of

respondents had no other access to the Internet, and 37.4% used the Internet to

search or apply for a job. 77.5% stated the value of the library experience as good or

very good.

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

Staff at Newham Council are being consulted on the Council’s e-government strategy

in a two-stage process. First a video has been produced which explains the

importance of e-government. 90 copies of the video were circulated to teams for

briefing and discussion. The video is also available on the Intranet. In addition staff

and partners from LSP agencies have been invited to lunch time seminars for

demonstration of ICT projects and discussion.

iii. Partnerships

The Council is exercising the new power of well being to develop innovative new

partnerships and ventures to promote the economic, social and environmental well

being of Newham communities using ICT. The following are some examples:

Newham Online

Newham Online is a partnership of academic, private, public and voluntary sector

bodies, the members of which agree to work together to ensure that maximum local

benefit is obtained from the development of information and communication

technologies. Its vision is: ‘By the year 2005 Newham will be recognised as the

leading UK centre for information and communication technologies in terms of both its

commercial exploitation and its use to benefit the local community.’

It was Newham Online which identified the need to develop a broad band based

extranet (or network of networks) for Newham. The extranet provides access to a

local communications and information network that is free at the point of use to

people in their homes, workplace and public spaces. There is now the potential to

make profits that can be put back into improving the local infrastructure and

increasing the take up of information and communication technologies by local

businesses and residents. With the support of Newham Council, the partners within

Newham Online were successful in getting the resources necessary to begin to build

this extranet and once it was up and running it was necessary to create a company to

manage it. It was also legally necessary for the company to achieve registration as a

Telecommunications Operator in order for the extranet to be expanded. Since the

Gateway’s URL is www.newham.net, it was decided to name the company, which

would manage the gateway and extranet “Newham.net Limited”.

Newham.net is a company limited by guarantee. Its objects (as set out in its

Memorandum of Association) are to:

(a) trade as a Telecommunications Operator and Internet Service Provider

offering public telecommunications and ancillary services in Newham;

(b) provide efficient interconnectivity between telecommunications networks

serving the borough of Newham;

(c) support the development and exploitation of information and

communications technologies; and

(d) promote the interests of its members.

Newham.net has provided broadband connectivity between the Council, Newham

College, University and a number of other service providing organisations. It also

plays an important role in providing low cost bandwidth to a number of organisations

and it will soon be providing connectivity to the Wired Up Community of Carpenters

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

Road Estate. In addition to connectivity it is also responsible for managing the

Newham portal and at Carpenters will be responsible for the provision of digital TV

services.

The evaluation of Newham Online undertaken by the University of East London

during winter 2000 suggested that Newham online had:

• provided a vision of the development of Newham which promotes regeneration

and at the same time raises the question of the ‘digital divide’, and thereby

contributed to the enhancement of Newham’s reputation

• with the ‘extranet’ and the establishment of Newham.net Ltd., created the basis of

a collaborative network infrastructure for the borough that has challenged the

traditional reluctance of network operators to invest in ‘poor’ areas

• with the ‘gateway’, begun to draw together a set of resources and facilities

relevant to people and organisations interested in services, communication and

business opportunities in Newham

• provided valuable advice and consultancy for a number of groups and individuals

in (and sometimes beyond) Newham

New Deal IT Services

In October 2000 the Council established a Joint Venture with a private sector partner,

Integris UK (now known as Steria), called “New Deal IT Services Limited”. New Deal

IT Services is an IT product dealership and maintenance service, providing ICT

modern apprenticeships for local young unemployed people, and positioned to

become the community IT services organisation. All trainees must meet the criteria

for the New Deal Employment scheme – i.e. they will have been unemployed for 6

months. 25 people have been trained in marketable IT skills since October 2000.

Newham Young People Online (NYPO)

NYPOnline is an online community created for and by young people in London

Borough of Newham with the support of Newham Community Education and Youth

Service (NewCEYS) and other agencies, including Newham Online, Computer

Access and UK Citizens Online Democracy. The organisation encourages people

between the age of 11 and 25 who live or learn in Newham to participate creatively

using the web.

Newham Training Network

Newham Training Network (NTN) is an umbrella organisation for local voluntary

sector training providers in the London Borough of Newham who offer high quality

training to unemployed people. Centres which provide ICT training include

Community Links, Community Reaching Out, CORECOG, ELBWO, Hartley Centre,

HEARTS, Interlink, Landmark, London Oriental academy, Management Training &

Education Centre, Newham Asian Women’s Project, Newham Community

Accountancy Project, New World Technology, Newham Unemployed Association,

NEWTEC, One Love, Pier Training Shop, Sebert Road Training Centre, Shalom

Employment Action Centre and Shoulder to Shoulder.

iv. Actions

Libraries

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

Newham libraries have been consistently to the fore in the provision of ICT facilities

including internet access. All Newham libraries have free internet access services.

The service is consistently fully booked. ICT can also be used to make information

available to people with disabilities. For example Stratford library has a text

enlargement and voice synthesis facility for people with impaired vision. The library

has plans to enable customers to use online services to join, carry out renewals, view

catalogues, reserve books, and ultimately pay fees and charges on line. ”Inclusivity”

is helped because such services cease to be dependent on opening times. However

especially important is the access to information. This could be information of many

sorts – emergency details, benefits etc. It could also be about the community – local

history, events listings. ICT in libraries helps to reinforce their role as community hubs

providing a wealth of help and advice. They also reflect the nature of the community

in terms of its make up, heritage and development. Information is structured to meet

specific groups’ needs.

Smart cards offer the potential for ‘bank lobby’ style facilities as key methods of

extending opening times of less used sites where staff involvement is hard to justify.

Newham’s new library at Forest Gate will be the pilot for self-service technologies

using smart cards in April 2003, enabling longer opening hours and greater service

accessibility.

The libraries have found ICT is a key means of involving people in services where

they would not normally have used them. The Canning Town Library computer club is

for pupils doing their GCSEs but has become an important means by which such

young people can be encouraged into the library, use the facilities and maybe borrow

a book. It is now being used to attract groups of excluded pupils for the same

reasons. Newham libraries have plans to use the video conferencing facilities of the

Peoples Network to allow people to contact relatives abroad. Thus allowing them

access to their families and their heritage.

A number of voluntary organisations provide ICT access including Aston Manor and

Cybercorner. An increasing number of schools provide parents with an ICT access

service.

Starthere

Starthere is an information system designed for people who have never used a

computer before. Older people and people with low literacy levels find Start Here

easier to use than conventional systems. The system provides a wealth of guidance

and advice on common life events. Although developed by a national organisation it

has been customised to contain local contact details of agencies from all sectors in

Newham, which was the first English borough to realise its potential and introduce

the system. Funding for Starthere has been provided by the Neighbourhood Renewal

Fund (NRF). Starthere can be viewed on www.newham.gov.uk/starthere

Community Access to Electronic Government

On 10 November 1999, Newham Council organised an ICT Conference “Getting

Wired”, the main aim of which was to consult with delegates, on how they could best

use ICT developments to improve services to their clients.

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

Delegates were advice providers from the public and voluntary sector, and their

clients are some of the most vulnerable in the community. There was considerable

enthusiasm for the provision of a network offering fast access to centrally maintained

services offering up to date welfare benefits information, online benefit calculations,

Internet access, e-mail etc.

The NRF agreed to fund connections for some 20 advice agencies across Newham.

This network is now in place and the rollout to agencies has commenced. Early

indications are of a very high degree of satisfaction with the service.

Accessible Personalised Local Authority Websites (APLAWS)

Newham Council is a member of APLAWS, a multi-borough partnership, funded by

the DTLR through the Pathfinder programme with support from the Royal National

Institute for the Blind and Age Concern. Private sector partners include Ars Digita,

Sun and Oracle. The purpose of the project is to provide citizens with an easier and

standard way to access information they need via the internet from Councils and

other agencies. The project is producing standards for both the presentation and

management of information. The result will be that citizens will find the information

they need faster whichever agency is responsible. From October 2002 the Newham

website, www.newham.gov.uk , will be using Aplaws techniques for improved

accessibility.

Smart Cards

Newham is developing a smart card project, using ISB funding, designed to provide

every Newham citizen of school age, or above, with a “Newham Community Card” by

2004. Early targets for the project are to support school registration, “payment” for

school meals (or free entitlement) and access to libraries and leisure amenities, but it

will increasingly become the key to service provision in the borough. This is also

associated with a project called “Tru-E Vote”, which is developing online voting

transactions via Smart card authentication. Smart cards are now in use by 1200

pupils of Langdon School. The pupils use the cards for school meals, registration in

every classroom, a reward scheme (based on the Karrot scheme in Southwark), the

local library and local leisure centre. There are many potential applications and

services, which will need a smart card in the future. A major one for London will be

the Transport for London Prestige smart card. Newham and Prestige share an

intention of using one card if possible and have made a joint expression of interest to

round 5 of ISB.

Digital TV

The Smart Communities partnership was made up of Camden Council, London &

Quadrant, St. Pancras Housing Association, Housing Corporation, BBC, Arthur

Andersen and Newham Council. The partnership is experimenting with a digital TV

service called Different Kind of TV (DKTV). The service has local content and an

interactive facility. Several hundred households in Newham have trialled the service

and it achieved higher viewing figures than channels 4 or 5 – a community

information system first! The televisual format proved particularly attractive to people

with low literacy skills. The interactive services include consultation, housing repairs

and booking services. DKTV was not able to develop its commercial operation, and

went into liquidation. However, a number of new service providers are keen to

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

develop the service with us and, HomeChoice, the distributor in Newham, is

continuing to carry the service.

Wired Up Communities

Wired Up Communities is a DfES funded initiative. Our project “Carpenters Connect”

provides the 639 flats and 65 TMO managed houses on the Carpenters Estate with

connections to the Newham Extranet and Internet at Broadband speeds. Carpenters

College, Carpenters School, the Carpenters TMO and Learn Direct Centre and the

Carpenters and Docklands Community Centre have also been connected onto this

network. It also provides the service to owner occupiers on a subsidised basis.

Access is via a set top box in every home. The scope includes:

• on site and in the home user support funded through the Tomorrows City SRB;

• online learning materials for children and adult learners;

• supporting the development of an online learning community consisting of

parents, children and teachers;

• providing an integrated means for accessing locally and nationally sourced online

learning materials; and

•

enabling delivery of digital TV based content covering health, maintenance, local

services, democracy and careers advice.

• ‘a PC on your TV’

The technical challenges to this project have been formidable, but the network is now

in place, a formal launch is planned for the 14 November this year, and one or two

homes have already been provided with set top boxes, keyboards and remotes on an

‘alpha test’ basis.

Intrinsic to this project has been the involvement of community representatives on the

steering committee, and a high degree of community consultation on services to be

offered. In addition, the project includes the establishment of video editing suites, and

residents are learning video shooting and editing and programme making skills, so

that genuine community-based material can be shown over the network directly onto

their TVs. The support of the Tenants Management Organisation has been critical to

the success of ‘Carpenters Connect’. Estate residents including children have helped

produce a video aimed at helping parents and other children understand how the

Internet can be used safely. The video is part of a wider programme of safe Internet

use called Web Smart. The video is to be distributed to all schools in Newham.

Computer Gym

The computer gym is a customised van with computer facilities. The van may be

parked in any location, although Internet access is only available by an extension

lead to a fixed phone socket. New Deal for Communities West Ham and Plaistow

have commissioned the use of the computer gym. People who would not normally

use high street locations find the van more convenient.

Broadband Access

Probably the greatest barrier of all to universal access to digital services is the

availability and affordability of broadband services. Only through broadband

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

connections to every home can the social and economic potential of digital

communications be realised. People with low literacy skills will be attracted to digital

services, which are well designed using video and audio. The Council and partners

aspire to connecting all households to broadband access as a condition of universal

social inclusion.

Newham is ahead of the vast majority of boroughs in that it already has a broadband

borough-wide network (called an Extranet) which links Newham Council, University of

East London (UEL), Newham College of Further Education, Newham Sixth Form

College, East London Centre, St Luke’s Centre, Stratford Circus, Theatre Royal, and

Waterhouse Studios. UEL’s Business Development Centre used the Extranet to

provide online training for Newham Council, including streamed video. NewVIc,

Stratford Circus and Waterhouse Studios are planning a local music network.

The Council and Newham Online are working together to improve the Extranet

network using wireless links between Newham’s tower blocks. It is anticipated that

the Extranet will be developed so as to allow services to be provided to local people

in their homes through computers and interactive TV. In the main this will be

achieved through provision of direct connections between the Extranet and ADSL

services provided via the local BT exchanges. However, on council estates the option

of directly connecting the homes using fibre is being considered. The Wired-up-

Communities project detailed above is an example of this option.

Schools

Schools are in many ways at the heart of the community, and the provision of high

levels of ICT and Internet access enables Newham's schools to start to overcome

many of the social disadvantages they face. Newham was one of the first - if not the

first of - councils in the country to link all its schools to the Internet via a broadband

network based on HDSL/SDSL low cost lines. The first schools were connected in

1998 and by late 2000 most of the schools were connected. All schools have access

to a centrally hosted web server on which they can create their own web sites. The

advent of the LGfL has provided an opportunity to improve services still further. Many

of the schools are also provided with interactive whiteboards. Recently built schools

have been provided with very high bandwidth networks, allowing the use of video-

conferencing facilities. The advent of the LGfL has provided an opportunity to

improve services still further. The Council is now embarking on a PFI project worth

around £17M. Progress will provide pupils in school years 5 and 6 with interactive

whiteboards, networked laptops for school and home and ICT training and resources

for their teachers.

Languages

Newham

has

2

websites

providing

language

services.

www.newham.gov.uk/languageshop is aimed at intermediaries. The site provides a

range of services including the facility to produce standard letters, e.g. hospital

appointment, in different languages. Following consultation with Gujarati focus

groups it was identified that the provision of literal translations of English was an

inadequate way of reaching speakers of other languages. Customers wanted to see

a person speaking the language alongside text documents.

www.keynoteslive.net/newham/welcome.asp is a demonstration developed for

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

Newham by keynoteslive. This site provides a choice of audio-video clips describing

services known as “talking-heads”. The language shop is working NACAB in

developing the largest community language site in Europe.

Staff

The Council has invited suppliers to tender for a scheme to provide staff with low cost

home PCs. The scheme takes advantage of Government legislation to enable

organisations to lease PCs to staff through a salary sacrifice. This means that staff

paying income tax at 25% would effectively receive a 25% discount on the leasing

payments. 65% of staff live in the borough.

v. Outcomes

• £0.5M increase in take up of benefits in Newham every year due to better

information from the data warehouse. Benefits staff are able to identify gaps

between actual and expected take up by area. The areas with the largest gaps

have been targeted for benefits awareness campaigns with dramatic results.

Additionally Housing benefit and Council Tax Benefit records are used to identify

households eligible for Warm Front grants and help them claim.

• Residents are able to telephone a contact centre which has consistently resolved

over 85% of calls first time for a wide range of Council services for the past 3

years The contact centre staff are able to do this through the use of the Council’s

Customer Relationship Management system and integrated back office systems.

• Residents are able to walk to one of eight local service centres for face to face

interviews. The local service centres have resolved 93% of visits first time in the

financial year 2002/03 to date. Local service centre staff are provided with the

same ICT access as the contact centre staff including scanned images of all

benefit claims and other documents over the Council network.

• A Newham resident can walk into a Local Service Centre or phone the Contact

Centre and within 2 minutes be talking to an interpreter in over 100 languages.

• Over 70% of requests for interpreter services are now received by email.

• Overall educational achievement outstrips neighbouring boroughs with similar

social profiles. The extensive access to ICT for learning in schools, libraries and

partner agencies is surely a contributory factor.

• In the first week of the operation of Newham’s Choice Based Lettings scheme

some 1000 bids were received over the internet out of a total of 2400. The web

page used by people on the Newham Housing Register is

www.ellcchoicehomes.org.uk .

vi. User & Community Satisfaction

• Customer satisfaction ratings for the contact centre have averaged 96% in the

financial year 2002/03 to date. This measure is defined as the percentage of

customers who have rated the service as good to very good.

• Contact centre customers are continuously consulted through surveys, focus

groups, and analysis of complaints. Feedback is used in development of the

service.

• Customer satisfaction ratings for the local service centres have averaged 97% in

the financial year 2002/03 to date.

• Plaudits for good service at the contact and local service centres outweighed

complaints by a factor of 10:1 in July 2002.

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

• The pattern of usage of services at local service centres and the contact centre

are used in determining the schedule for implementing on-line services.

• Despite having internet access available in all libraries demand is always higher

than provision. Demand for network access to community centres is high.

• The language shop has developed a network of agencies and voluntary groups,

which continually monitor the changing pattern of ethnic minorities to ensure that

service provision meets demand. This network is a vital supplement to the normal

statistical surveys as the most overlooked groups are the smallest minorities.

• “The introduction of Smart Cards to Langdon has had a real impact on all aspects

of school life. Use of the card for registration purposes has improved attendance

(yr9 weekly attendance increasing from 90% to 94.8% overnight) and staff report

that punctuality to lessons has improved.” Assistant Head Teacher of Langdon

School – July 2002.

Part 4: Dissemination of good practice

1. On the basis of the practice you have described in Part 2 what are the key

messages you have to share and who do you see as the audiences for these?

The key messages are:

• Think big: don't be put off by doubters.

• Turn your challenges into opportunities - high-rise blocks in Newham are used as

transmitters and receivers for the Newham extranet.

• Involve as many community groups and partners as possible in online talking

shops. The existence of these talking groups is fertile ground for collaborative

projects. Bids for new projects can be made very quickly if the partners required

are already known to each other and can communicate quickly. Newham Online

has a tremendous record of producing successful bids from an extensive online

community.

• Be imaginative - don't wait for technologies to mature - be at the cutting edge

• Undertake extensive research into the local population and conditions to identify

needs and inform business cases for change. Use robust business cases to gain

the commitment of politicians and senior managers.

The audience will include:

• Decision makers in Local Strategic Partnerships including Councillors;

• Community Groups;

• Schools;

2. Beyond the national Showcase event and Open Day, do you have any initial

ideas on how you might share your practice with others?

• Provide an online case history of projects in Newham including learning points;

• Offer targeted visits for experience in providing services to particular groups – e.g.

some of the smaller ethnic minorities;

• Presentations to national conferences;

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

• Establish a web board on the ODPM web site for Councils to log offers of help

and advice in specific areas;

• Undertake market research to ascertain where other Councils are in our areas of

excellence so as to target help accurately.

3. What resources/expertise are you able to commit to spread your good

practice to other authorities?

• A mentoring service from officers and volunteers with experience in implement

ICT in the Community projects;

• A web site with specialist contacts;

• Staff time for holding visits and demonstrations.

Part 5: Annexes

Please list below all annexes to be submitted with your application. (Please see the

Application Brochure 2002 for detailed guidance on submitting the annexes in hard

copy.)

Performance:

• Comprehensive Performance Assessment – Self Assessment

• Best Value Performance Plan

• 2001/02 Best Value Performance Plan - Audit Report

• Audit Letter 2000/2001

Theme based:

• Newham e-Government audit

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

Appendix 3 – The Mayor’s Seven Key Tasks

Mayor's 7 Key Tasks

1.

The Council’s element of Council Tax will not increase by more than the level of increase recommended by

the Government over the period of the Council.

2

We will be held to account for the quality of local service provision by publishing annually a set of targets

(e.g. in housing, environment, social services, leisure etc.) and we will ensure that the quality of services

improves year on year.

3.

We will implement the National Standard for the Achievement of Equalities in Local Government, and we will

commit ourselves to achieving the highest level of the National Standard (level five) by the end of the

administration.

4.

Education is the key to the future chances of our young people and we will make sure that we close the gap

that now exists only at 5 A-Cs at GCSE between Newham and the rest of the country.

5.

We will assist the poorest Newham residents to increase their level of income so that families can have a better

quality of life, and so that poverty in Newham declines relative to the national position for those people.

6.

We will contribute to the improvement of health and well-being for all the people of Newham agreeing with

the NHS providers a series of measures which we will use to monitor progress and to scrutinise the response to

locally identified priorities.

7.

We will apply the benefits of the ‘Respect’ campaign approach to the whole Borough and work with the police

to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour compared to inner London.

Implementing Electronic

Government Statement

October 2002

Appendix 4 – Management Arrangements for IEG

This diagram attempts to illustrate the relationships that have developed to support

the delivery of the e-Government agenda in Newham. E-Government is effectively

championed at political and management levels, and there is a network of

relationships with the Local Strategic Partnership and other borough representatives,

and the Council’s work-force.

Head of ICT

E Champion

Director of

Culture & Community

Director of

Finance

Lead Member for ICT

(Council E -Envoy )

Progress Monitoring

Mayor & Cabinet

Progress

Monitoring

Chief Executive

Corporate Management

Team

Council

Corporate ICT Strategy

Team

(Senior Departmental

Representatives)

Themed ICT Strategy Sub-Groups

Local Strategic

Partnership &

Community

Forums