Results from Better connected 2011 suggest most councils still do not recognise digital delivery as faster and more convenient for the public as well cheaper for the taxpayer

Key results from this year's survey are:

• Nine councils (2% of all UK sites) have achieved the survey's top, four-star ranking. These are: Brighton & Hove, Bristol City, East Sussex CC, Eden DC, The City of Edinburgh, Lewisham, Richmond upon Thames, Salford City and SurreyHeath BC
• This compares with eleven last year, of which only two have retained four star ranking this year (East Sussex CC, Salford City).
• The number of three star sites is 131 (30% of the total 433) compared with last year's 106 (24%). The remainder comprise 187 two star sites (43%), compared with 199 (46%), and 106 one star sites (25%) compared with 116 (27%)
• In terms of performance by type of council, London boroughs come out with 67% three and four star sites, significantly higher than shire counties with 44%. Groups that perform the worst are NI districts (0%), unitaries in Scotland (28%) and metropolitan and shire districts (both with 28%).
• Top performance by region is London (67% three and four star sites), the North East (42%), South East (38%) and the North West (37%). Lowest performance is the East Midlands (19%) and the East of England (29%). All the others come within a couple of percentage points of the average (35%).
• Overall, council websites have made a modest improvement since last year. But this follows stagnation reported in last year's survey. The judgement is based on comparison of standards across twelve criteria for usefulness and usability
• A 12.7% increase in usage of the web by the GB adult population in the last year (Ipsos MORI) is matched by a 12.95% increase in usage of council websites (Socitm Insight's Website take-up service)
• 21.89% of visits to council websites during 2010 ended in complete failure, potentially creating wasteful avoidable contact in councils' other customer channels
• Levels of satisfaction with visiting council websites have gone up over the year as a whole by 7%, reversing a gradual decline in recent years.

Results from Better connected 2011, the annual survey of all council websites, published on March 1, suggest that most councils are still to recognise that digital delivery is faster and more convenient for the public as well cheaper for the taxpayer.

This conclusion is based on the fact that 68% of councils fail to achieve more than two stars out of a possible four in this year's version of the annual survey by the public services IT and digital professionals' body, Socitm.

Overall improvement in council websites is modest, with a degree of progress this year following stagnation last year, despite significant increases in numbers using the internet and the opportunity for councils to reduce their costs significantly by shifting more enquiries to the web.

In order to reduce their dependence on the traditional, more costly-to-serve, channels of phone and face-to-face, Better connected 2011 suggests that councils evaluate their website performance and focus on three interconnected themes - think customer, focus on 'top tasks', and go mobile.

• Think customer: managing the website should be seen as a broader part of managing customer access. The web team should be seen as part of customer service, and should see this as its primary goal.
• Focus on top tasks: for website performance to improve, visit failures must be reduced by identifying and managing top tasks on the principle that the more the site is used for any task, the more important it is to make that task quick and easy to use.
• Go mobile: local authorities are not immune from the trend to smart phones and their websites must be able to respond to the demand for web access 'on the move'. A 'top tasks' approach to content presentation plays to this agenda as mobile devices are ideally suited to responding to a person wanting to complete a simple task.

The report provides additional research on each of these three themes, and covers two other key developments affecting councils-on-the-web: interaction with individuals through social media and with local communities through neighbourhood websites.

A survey of social media activity covers interactions by councils with the six most common social networking facilities - Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, blogs and LinkedIn.

A guest article covers research, originally carried out for Capital Ambition, into hundreds of local neighbourhood sites in London and their impact on relationships with the local council.

Better connected 2011 is based largely on analysis of the annual survey of the 433 local authority websites in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that has been carried out since 1999. This year, 49 other public sector sites were also assessed, including fire and police services, PTEs, RSLs and a range of other government and third sector bodies.

As in previous years, a lengthy (136-question) survey was carried by a team of reviewers in November and December. Around half of the questions were designed to test the information content of websites by focussing on a selection of six from the twelve most-used parts of a typical council website:

• Leisure
• Business
• Council tax
• Social care
• Parking
• Highways

The remainder of the questions assessed performance around the criteria used by Better connected to assess website performance, including currency, links, transactions, location, navigation, A-Z, search, and accessibility.

The report also uses six additional surveys to support the main survey:

• Severe weather
• Response to e-mail enquiry
• Phone contact details
• Mystery shopping in libraries
• Mobile device (iPhone)
• Social media

Other information sources used for the report are:

• The Socitm Insight Website take-up service used by 139 councils
• Review of forms by Effortmark
• Website accessibility review by RNIB
• Website readability tested by The Writer
• Benchmarking of various technical measures by SiteMorse
• Access to the internet data from Ipsos MORI
• Data on usage of websites from Experian Hitwise 
• Visitor feedback on 70 councils from GovMetric
• Broken links from Local Directgov

Commenting on the findings of Better connected 2011, Socitm President Jos Creese said: 'The web is no longer about technology. It is about delivering lower cost services designed around the user. Any public service organisation, therefore, which is not fully integrating the potential of web delivery in financial and customer service strategies is likely to be under-performing in both areas'.

Writing in the report foreword, Christine Farnish, Chair of Consumer Focus said: 'At a time when government is seeking to make online access to public services the default channel, it is more important than ever that the need of consumers be placed at the heart of this process. That means starting from what works for consumers, rather than what works for providers'.

Better connected 2011 (the Main Report) will be available to Socitm Insight subscribers from 1 March 2010. An expanded version of all the results (the Full Results Report) will also be available from 15 March 2010, but only as an electronic version. Non-subscribers will be able to buy a printed version of the Main Report (available from mid-March) at a cost of £495 (£475 for Socitm members in non-subscribing organisations).  It can be ordered from www.socitm.net.

Spreadsheets available to subscribers include:

• A summary of the results of the main survey, together with the supporting surveys
• An index of council references contains all references to examples of good practice, entries in the lists of top sites etc, so that subscribers have a quick reference to their council
• A summary of the accessibility results brings together all the detailed information about the accessibility assessments produced from the three stages of the testing process, using the automated testing software and RNIB expertise, and highlighting those who have passed or failed the Level A and Level AA standards (and the reasons why).

Like last year, a summary of the results for all local authorities will be made available as open data under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licence on www.socitm.net.

Further information

Vicky Sargent, Socitm Press Office
Tel: 07726 601 139  email: vicky.sargent@socitm.net

Martin Greenwood, Programme Manager, Socitm Insight
Tel: 01926 498703 or 07967 383755  e-mail: martin.greenwood@socitm.net

Notes for Editors

Socitm Insight runs the the Web improvement and usage community within the IDeA Communities of Practice. The space enables networking and the sharing of ideas and best practice around all aspects of website development, content and take-up. More than 1,000  people have joined the community since the space was launch last year. The community will host discussion around Better connected 2011 and anyone interested is welcome to join and get involved. Registration is at www.communities@idea.gov.uk.

Additional information

1 Better connected top 20 council websites in 2011 (brackets denote year site last in top twenty).

• Brighton & Hove City (Last in 2008)
• Bristol City (Last in 2009)
• Carlisle City (New)
• East Sussex CC (Last in 2010)
• Eden DC (New)
• The City of Edinburgh (Last in 2002)
• Hammersmith & Fulham (New)
• Lancaster City DC (New)
• Lewisham (Last in 2009)
• Northamptonshire CC (New)
• Preston City (New)
• Richmond upon Thames (Last in 2010)
• Rochford DC (New)
• Salford City (Last in 2010)
• Surrey Heath BC (Last in 2009)
• Tandridge DC (Last in 2009)
• Wakefield MDC (New)
• Warwick DC (Last in 2007)
• RB of Windsor & Maidenhead (Last in 2009)
• Wrexham  CBC (Last in 2007)

Seven out of the 20 listed here (marked 'New') have never appeared before in our Top 20 lists.

2 How the research was done

This year's Better connected survey was carried out between 1 November and 12 December 2010. As in previous years, a team of reviewers carried out a survey with 136 questions for local authority websites. Using a structured questionnaire, the team explored the ability of websites to respond to the needs of a range of typical local authority customers, and to test performance in the areas of interactive applications; currency of information; usability; and responsiveness to e-mail. 

3 The four star ranking system

The four star ranking is based on two elements:

• how many of the Better connected criteria (see below) have been met by the website to the specified performance standard
• the reviewer's overall score for the the website's quality, which can be 1 (poor); 2 (adequate); 2 (satisfactory); or 3 (very good)

Rank	Overall reviewer rating	Achievement of criteria
****	3	10 out of 12 (inc 4 essential criteria)
***	2  3	6 out of 12  7 out of 12
**	2  1	3 out of 12  5 out of 12
*		All others

4 Criteria used in the Better connected assessment

* Information: People find answers to their questions   
Links elsewhere: People are referred to another organisation if the council does not have the information

Currency: People can rely on the site being up to date   

* Transactions: People can conduct business with the council

News value: Does the content capture people's attention by its newsworthiness?

E-mail: Can people do business by e-mail with the council?

Participation: Do people have the opportunity to influence council policies and decisions?

A-Z: People can find their way easily to a specific topic   

* Search: A specific word or phrase generally points people to the information they want   

Navigation: People can rely on a clear and consistent style in finding their way around   

Location: People can find information easily by using a map or postcode (or other similar)   

* Accessibility: People can use the site if they have a disability   

Resilience: Can people rely on the site to be available and working properly?   

5 Percentage of sites achieving the standard on Better connected criteria

Criteria	% sites achieving standard (% 2010)	change since BC 2010
Usefulness of content
Information	48% (39%)	Improvement
Links elsewhere	74% (46%)	Significant improvement
Currency	39% (61%)	Significant deterioration
News value	43% (55%)	Deterioration
Transactions	51% (38%)	Improvement
Participation	29% (54%)	Significant deterioration
Usability
Use of A to Z	73% (61%)	Improvement
Use of search engine	54% (52%)	Small improvement
Use of location	21% (16%)	Improvement
Navigation	52% (57%)	Small deterioration
Accessibility	33% (28%)	Small improvement
Resilience	2% (2%)	No change

6 Percentage of three star and four star sites by type of council (2010 in brackets)

Shire counties	44% (66%)
London boroughs	67% (43%)
Metropolitan districts	31% (41%)
English unitaries	38% (25%)
Scottish unitaries	28% (22%)
Shire districts	29% (20%)
Welsh unitaries	22% (18%)
Northern Ireland districts	0% (4%)

7 Performance of other public sector websites

Using a shorter questionnaire based on the local authority survey, 49 websites from some other organisations that subscribe to Socitm Insight were assessed including:

• Six passenger transport executives (PTEs)
• Nine fire services
• Four police services
• Three registered social landlords (RSLs)
• Two central government bodies (England)
• Six regional government bodies (England)
• Nine government bodies (Scotland, Wales and NI)
• Six devolved administrations
• Four education organisations
• One voluntary organisation

In the past, most local government websites have seemed very good in comparison. This year, however, the gap has closed and we have identified 23 exceptionally good non-local authority websites (47% of total) that are the equivalent of at least a three star ranking:

Passenger transport executives

• Greater Manchester
• Nexus Tyne & Wear
• Strathclyde
• West Yorkshire PTE

Fire services

• Avon Fire Brigade
• Cheshire Fire Brigade
• South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
• Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service

Police service

• Devon & Cornwall Constabulary
• Northumbria Police

Registered social landlords

• Northern Ireland Housing Executive

Central government bodies (England)

• Charity Commission for England & Wales

Regional government bodies (England)

• North West Development Agency
• Opportunity Links

Government bodies (Scotland, Wales and NI)

• Improvement Service
• Learning & Teaching Scotland
• Sports Council for Wales

Devolved administrations

• Isle of Man Government
• States of Jersey
• Northern Ireland Civil Service
• Scottish Government
• Welsh Assembly Government

Voluntary organisations

• Action for Children

8  The e-mail test

Dear Sir\Madam
I am disabled. Can you tell me how to apply for a blue badge?

Thanks for your help.

Mr Sidney Meadow
Sidneymeadow@yahoo.com

 

9 Report contents summary

Part A - The present - this year's results

Section 1 - Overview of this year's results

We provide the national picture in terms of overall rankings using our star system for ranking sites (one star to four stars). This is followed by our Top 20, our analysis by type of council, our view of improvement trends and, finally, an examination of some of our favourite sites

Section 2 - This year's results - useful content

We describe the detailed analysis of the results, focusing firstly on content. We report here on the information content about six common topics that might interest typical visitors, and then examine other aspects of content such as use of links, currency of information, news value, provision of services, response to e-mail and the practice of participation.

Section 3 - This year's results - usability

The second stage of the results focuses on ease of use. This covers use of navigational aids such as A to Z lists, search engines and locational data, general navigation, accessibility, readability of top tasks and, finally, technical resilience. All these points contribute to the usability of a local authority website.

Section 4 - This year's results - usage

Our third perspective is focused on usage. Switching from the product to the customer, we examine different aspects of the demand side, highlighting trends in take-up and visitor feedback. We provide the latest information about internet access, visitor usage and satisfaction and advise about better marketing. We conclude with a very interesting case study about the success of online school-related services for parents/carers in England.

Part B - The future - issues to face

Section 5 - National influences on strategic direction

We offer an overview of national policies, initiatives and legislation that will have a strategic impact on the development of websites in the next three to five years.

Section 6 - Striving for a website fit for self-service

Having analysed in detail the current state of council websites and how they are used, and having also considered the strategic implication of national policy development, we argue that council websites must achieve a new level of performance. In planning for website improvement we recommend three inter-connected themes supported by three pieces of research.

Section 7 - Connecting with people via social media

Digital media are expanding well beyond the traditional website. Here we investigate how councils are connecting through their websites with all types of people networks using probably the six most common social networking facilities - Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, blogs and LinkedIn.

Section 8 - Connecting with people via neighbourhood sites

We have commissioned a special article based on research, originally carried out for Capital Ambition, into hundreds of local neighbourhood sites in London from two experts who have studied their rise and analysed their impact on relationships with councils.

Section 9 - Conclusions

10 A note on collaborators in Better connected 2011

Socitm would like to thank the following organisations for their contributions to this report. Their advice has helped to add balance with a number of different perspectives:

• Effortmark (www.effortmark.com)
• GovMetric (www.govmetric.com)
• Experian Hitwise (www.hitwise.com/uk)
• Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute (www.ipsos-mori.com)
• Royal National Institute of Blind People (www.rnib.org.uk)
• Sitemorse plc (www.sitemorse.com)
• The Writer (www.thewriter.co.uk)