Communities and neighbourhoods

Timely information to citizens

In July 2008 Communities and Local Government launched Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power, which set out the case for improving citizens' access to, and use of, information on local services and performance, to empower them to hold local service providers to account. Communities and Local Government is taking this forward through the Timely Information for Citizens project which aims to:

establish a good practice toolkit for the effective provision by local authorities of timely information on local services and performance to their citizens
evaluate innovative new approaches to informing citizens through piloting with local authorities
through the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), Regional Improvements and Efficiency Partnerships (RIEPs) and other support organisations, develop a programme of activities to support the spread of good practice among local authorities.

Research into good practice

Communities and Local Government has commissioned two pieces of research to identify which approaches to selecting, presenting and disseminating information have the greatest impact on citizens' empowerment, and to help establish a toolkit of good practice techniques:

a literature review to identify good practice from existing research, case studies and evaluations of both UK and international examples.
a series of workshops with local authorities and other stakeholders to evaluate current local authority information provision, especially where they are using new and innovative approaches.

Local authority pilots

Following on from the research, we are working with local authorities to augment the understanding of good practice through piloting a range of innovative approaches to sharing information with citizens, community groups and with third parties.

The pilots will tell us which new and untested approaches to informing citizens are effective and worthy of wider consideration. Successful pilots will act as exemplars, and their evaluation results will feed into the good practice toolkit.

Activities to support the spread of good practice

Communities and Local Government will be working closely with the IDeA and the RIEPs to develop plans to promote the spreading and sharing of good practice. This is likely to include sector-produced light-touch guidance and working through Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships (RIEPs) to build capacity in authorities. More information on this will be available later in 2009.