Innovation in local government is about improving the lives of the people in our
communities. Browse through our case studies to see the many innovative programmes councils are involved
in.
With a reduction in staffing numbers and budget over the past five years, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s communications team needed to find a way of delivering an outstanding service despite more limited resources. Corporate communications manager Alex Mills explains what they did.
The need to keep residents informed and demonstrate value for money are key priorities for all councils, but how to do you balance the two? Alan Ferguson, web manager at Central Bedfordshire Council, explains how they swapped paper publications for online updates without diluting their messages or damaging engagement.
With official figures for England and Wales revealing that one in four women and one in six men will experience domestic violence in their lifetime, Camden Council decided to create the ‘know you’re not alone’ campaign to raise awareness and help their communities access vital support services. Communications Lead Lorna Gott explains what they did and the important role that video played in delivering their message.
Staffordshire Council is developing effective ways to identify pre-school children sufficiently early and to engage their families with effective support, inspiration and practical help.
Bristol’s museums and galleries have a combined collection of more than two million items. When the council began its three-year digitisation programme, 95 per cent of them were not yet fully catalogued or photographed.
Faced with the need to downsize to ease financial pressures, Cheshire West and Chester Council had a challenge on its hands. How best to communicate potentially controversial changes without losing employees’ trust and support.
When a new chief executive arrived at West Sussex County Council he brought with him a passion for refocusing the council’s internal communications activities. Communications account manager Helen Card explains how they worked together to achieve his ambitions for the organisation.
Herefordshire Council worked to support Leominster community to develop responses for people engaged with adult social care and families facing crisis.
Colchester Borough Council has utilised its own CCTV network to deploy a fibre broadband network across its city centre for less than 10% of the cost of installing it from scratch.