Broadcasts
July 2011
Weekly Broadcast Thursday 28 July 2011
Whitehall's approach to IT a "recipe for rip-offs" says PASC report
The Public Administration Select Committee has published its report into Government IT, following its enquiry conducted earlier this year. The report recommends that central government publish all procurement contracts, benchmark performance, and mandate open standards and inter-operability to help open up its supply base. You can find a copy of the report at Parliament.uk
Evidence from Socitm, provided in written form, and in person when Policy Director Martin Ferguson and senior Socitm Members David Wilde, Mark Adams-Wright appeared before the committee in March, is referenced in the report. Socitm benchmarking is specifically mentioned for its role in keeping IT costs in local government low. You can find the press release we issued at the time on the Socitm website.
Weekly Broadcast Thursday 21 July 2011
Socitm Insight launches Cookie management service...
Socitm Insight has launched a new service to help public sector website owners to deal with the implication of the EU 'cookie' directive effective from 26 May 2011.
The directive puts a new compliance burden on all website owners, including those responsible for sites that may be delivered by third parties. Website owners are now required to provide their visitors with an opportunity to give their consent explicitly prior to having cookies downloaded on to their computers or mobile devices. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which is responsible for enforcing the new law in the UK, has allowed all organisations one year to make the necessary changes - although complaints about serious breaches will be investigated during this period.
In partnership with Cookie Reports Ltd, Socitm Insight has come up with a simple and practical response to this new requirement that is available to all local public services and, as a shared service, is offered at an affordable price.
Further information is available at: Socitm.net
Extra Articles
Weekly Broadcast Thursday 14 July 2011
Agile Pathfinder Programme for local public services
We are announcing today the objectives of a new programme for testing the agile methodology for supporting and delivering radical business change in local public services.
Fully supported by the Government's CIO Council, the programme will be managed through a collaboration between Socitm Insight and IndigoBlue Consulting Ltd who specialise in the agile methodology.
Socitm Insight is seeking four to six volunteer organisations with suitable projects to create a Agile Pathfinder Programme (APP) starting no later than September 2011.
Qualifying organisations should be in a position to initiate their projects no later than 30 September 2011 and all must commit to a timeframe whereby outputs are delivered incrementally before 31 March 2012.
Closing date for applications is 1 August 2011. More information in attached leaflet
Further information on www.socitm.net/insight
Extra Articles
Weekly Broadcast Thursday 7 July 2011
New service: Getting the most from Google Analytics
Socitm Insight has launched a new service to enable local authority and other public service website owners to maximise the benefits available from the free web statistics service, Google Analytics.
Data from Google complements data from Socitm Insight's Website take-up service - which asks visitors about their experience - by providing information about what website users actually do during their visits.
Like the Takeup service, the new service also allows subscribers to compare their data with other local authorities, enabling them to spot differences in performance, gather evidence to inform change, and then track improvement. More sophisticated usages include goal setting and testing different versions of the same page, live. Find out more about: Getting the most from Google Analytics
There will be a roundtable on what you can do with Google Analytics at the forthcoming Perfect Council Websites event on July 14 in London. To reserve your place at this event, book at Socitm.net.
