Agenda item

Members were reminded that this was the final witness session for the Committee’s review into Community Cohesion which was investigating how Council services were accessed by all individuals of all backgrounds and groups and sections of the community.

At the meeting of the Committee held on 13 November 2012 Members were provided with a written report from the Head of Corporate Communications which provided details of how the Council was communicating with the Borough’s communities in helping to ensure integration and cohesion.  

The Head of Corporate Communications attended the meeting and provided the review with additional information in support of his written contribution. Points made were:

·        The Council was very good at communicating with its residents with a high informed rate of 70%

·        Hillingdon People, the Council’s residents’ magazine was published six times a year and distributed door-to-door to all of the Borough’s 113,000 households as well as libraries, leisure centres, nursing homes and public buildings to ensure everyone in the Borough was kept well informed about the Council’s services.   

·        The Council’s website had recently been overhauled with an improved design, navigation, functionality and content which delivered a first class customer service.

·        Over 40,000 of residents of the Borough were registered to report or request information online. This represented a sizeable proportion of the Borough’s population and compared favourably with other London Boroughs.

·        Monitoring had taken place on the self service option on the website and take up reflected the profile of the Borough well.

·        To further improve accessibility a mobile version of the website would be launched at the end of November.

·        There was a Young Hillingdon version of the website, and the Youth Council was involved in making decisions for the site. Members asked for usage figures on the Young Hillingdon website

·        Reference was made to the positive messages which came out of the Hillingdon Survey. The Committee asked about user surveys and whether Council services such as libraries and leisure services conducted them. Subject to clarification on this, Members suggested that this could be a recommendation of the review.

·        Members were informed that good and positive messages regarding community cohesion needed to be publicised.

·        Research and intelligence was important to understand what information people wanted.

·        With regard to accessing those groups or individuals who were difficult to engage and interact with, schools were the best means of disseminating information through. Hillingdon was already doing some great work in this respect which had been highlighted at the first witness session of the review.

·        Reference was made to those Council officers who did communicate “face to face” with different groups of the community and the Head of Corporate Communications suggested that a support and guidance fact sheet could be produced which would provide useful tips on good communication.

·        Council services could be communicated though the Council’s partners i.e Health Centres, GPs surgeries, supermarkets.

·        Whilst understanding that not every individual in the Borough had access to the Internet, it would be useful if the Borough’s libraries could consider having the Council’s public website homepage as a default page o some of the library PCs.

·        Creativity and innovation was needed such as the use of Facebook, twitter and other social network media to get the messages of Council services out.

·        Reference was made to the work which the Mayor of the Council did throughout the Borough, visiting many communities and representing the Council. Consideration could be given to creating a “Blog” for the Mayor which would provide details of the many wide ranging activities and events which the Mayor attended, and give residents to interact and find out more about the Borough.

RESOLVED –

1.   That the information provided by Council’s Head of Corporate Communications be noted.

2.  That officers in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee agree the final recommendations of the review, to enable the final report to be submitted to Cabinet.