1. Local Directgov Update esd toolkit London & South East 6/12/2011

2. 2 Summary Local Directgov – latest stats Using Local Directgov – Links, 404 errors Topical Links LDG Community GDS and the single domain

3. 3 Local Directgov – latest stats

4. 4 Local Services Top 10 Service – September 2011 Top 10 Services #Service NameNo of Impressions (Previous Month) 1Check your eligibility for housing benefit140,776 (152,461) 2Find out school term dates137,082 (154,415) 3Contact your local authority100,899 (107,529) 4Find out more about council tax82,225 (94,601) 5Pay your council tax65,489 (72,574) 6Apply to register on the electoral roll49,207 (59,940) 7Apply for a blue badge parking permit47,498 (44,020) 8Find out about primary school places39,684 9Apply for help with school clothing costs38,845 (29,180) 10Check your eligibility for council tax benefit36,131 (38,847)

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6. 6 Using Local Directgov – Links, 404 errors

7. 7 LDG LINKS ( as of 2/12/2011) London Authority name LDG links LDG broken links PS C link s PSC brok en links Vali d 404 pag eAuthority name LDG links LDG broken links PSC links PSC broken links Valid 404 page Barking and Dagenham3350480Y Hounslow325030N Barnet1964230Y Islington2820570Y Bexley2670390Y Kensington and Chelsea2140640N Brent39101351Y Lambeth2560620Y Bromley3232474542Y Lewisham3020740Y Camden31301140Y Merton3470660Y City of London2720680Y Newham2210390N Croydon3200700Y Redbridge2370350Y Enfield2283890Y Richmond upon Thames3020880Y Greenwich2190120N Southwark29211400Y Hackney2530200N Sutton24525113Y Hammersmith & Fulham1815670Y Tower Hamlets2540350Y Haringey3812650Y Waltham Forest3090680Y Harrow376040Y Wandsworth1990770Y Havering3743740N Westminster28224521Y Hillingdon3554650N Ealing3401707616Y Kingston upon Thames285090N

8. 8 LDG LINKS ( as of 2/12/2011) South East 1 Authority name LDG links LDG brok en links PSC links PSC broke n links Valid 404 pageAuthority name LDG links LDG broken links PSC links PSC broken links Valid 404 page Adur2420440YEast Sussex1730200Y Arun2580130NEastbourne15541402Y Ashford2010470YEastleigh1520250Y Aylesbury Vale1620500YElmbridge2100810Y Basingstoke & Deane14019536YEpsom and Ewell1360640Y Bracknell Forest2431390YFareham1880590N Brighton & Hove2240880YGosport2400580N Buckinghamshire2050380YGravesham1683241Y Canterbury2060200YGuildford119030N Cherwell1270510YHampshire1850400Y Chichester2010400YHart127020Y Chiltern181420YHastings15528240Y Crawley2894510NHavant1270470Y Dartford1340300YHorsham29111480N Dover1980410NIsle of Wight16501050Y East Hampshire1510510YKent1560130Y

9. 9 Authority name LDG links LDG brok en links PSC links PSC brok en links Valid 404 pageAuthority name LDG links LDG broken links PSC links PSC broken links Valid 404 page Lewes1450260YSpelthorne1600240N Maidstone410 0YSurrey2050240Y Medway3080730YSurrey Heath1420270Y Mid Sussex3710790NSwale1981190Y Milton Keynes3540750YTandridge1710470Y Mole Valley1350230YTest Valley1401350Y New Forest1980640YThanet560210Y Oxford1950480YTonbridge & Malling15701030Y Oxfordshire1620240YTunbridge Wells10601290N Portsmouth3160770YVale of White Horse1321230Y Reading3052626525YWaverley1960440Y Reigate & Banstead1300450YWealden il1880400Y Rother District1160400YWest Berkshire259040Y Runnymede920690NWest Oxfordshire1660800N Rushmoor1820600YWest Sussex192030Y Sevenoaks1290440NWinchester1930370Y Shepway1880630YWindsor & Maidenhead2798391Y Slough3800720YWoking1292130Y South Bucks1420550NWokingham3880600Y South Oxfordshire1440320YWorthing27921230N Southampton3230810NWycombe2070440Y

10. 10 LDG LINKS ( as of 2/12/2011) East 1 Authority name LDG links LDG broke n links PSC links PSC broken links Valid 404 pageAuthority name LDG links LDG broken links PSC links PSC broken links Valid 404 page Babergh1740520YFenland107201310N Basildon1800400YForest Heath140106450Y Braintree1804320YGreat Yarmouth2310340Y Breckland860530YHarlow990800Y Brentwood2410720YHertfordshire1705172Y Broadland1991010NHertsmere1190360Y Broxbourne830220YHuntingdonshire64030Y Cambridge1480510YIpswich2020470Y Cambridgeshire1210270YKing's Lynn & West Norfolk17210550Y Castle Point1460480NLuton2080640Y Chelmsford1600540YMaldon24301720N Colchester15929696YMid Suffolk1840580Y Dacorum Council1851240YNorfolk1980200Y East Cambridgeshire1220520YNorth Hertfordshire1440450Y East Hertfordshire1420220YNorth Norfolk1070390Y Epping Forest1767466YNorwich1910440Y Essex1520100NPeterborough3360650Y

11. 11 LDG LINKS ( as of 2/12/2011) East 2 Authority name LDG links LDG broke n links PSC links PSC broken links Valid 404 pageAuthority name LDG links LDG broken links PSC links PSC broken links Valid 404 page North Norfolk1070390YTendring2600430Y Norwich1910440YThree Rivers1990260Y Peterborough3360650YThurrock Council3930770Y Rochford1020460YUttlesford16411000N South Cambridgeshire613250YWatford1170550Y South Norfolk146000YWaveney1640800Y Southend-on-Sea374040YWelwyn Hatfield Council13710281Y St Albans2190410YSt Edmundsbury2440250Y Stevenage1581483YBedford2220730N Suffolk1870470YCentral Bedfordshire37522716Y Suffolk Coastal1440420Y

12. 12 Broken Links Automatic emails are sent by the system to Local Authority web teams (web portal officer) when links are broken so that they can be fixed. Every night the LDG application checks all the links held in its database by sending out requests to council servers for the pages on councils sites. When the request is made to the web server, a status code is returned. Some common status codes are: 200 - the server successfully returned the page 404 - the requested page doesn't exist 503 - the server is temporarily unavailable So when LDG checks a link and receives a 404 status code rather than a 200 status code it knows the link is broken. An ISP will return a standard 404 page to the user which often is not really very helpful and it is much morefriendly for web teams to create custom 404 pages that will help the user find the information they are seeking, encouraging them to explore the site further.

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14. 14 The screen shot above appears to be a good example of a custom 404 page. But looks can be deceiving. In this particular example, the council’s web server returns a 200 status code search engines and spiders (such as LDG) and no one picks up on the fact that the link is broken. When you develop custom 404 pages please ensure that your web server returns a 404 status code to complement the custom page. To know whether your council is currently returning 200 status codes for broken link pages, go to - http://www.communities.gov.uk/localdirectgov/monthlystats/ http://www.communities.gov.uk/localdirectgov/monthlystats/

15. 15 Topical Links

16. 16 Local Services Top 10 Services #Service Name No of Impressions (Previous Month) 1 Find out about emergency school closures123,900 (101,646) 2Find out school term dates93,105 (105,374) 3 Check your eligibility for housing benefit72,464 (106,194) 4Pay your council tax64,128 (73,231) 5 Get local information on services disrupted by severe weather54,917 6Contact your local authority54,546 (75,949) 7Find out more about council tax48,716 (60,626) 8 Find out about road closures and diversions38,207 9Apply to register on the electoral roll32,943 (36,451) 10Apply for a blue badge parking permit20,576 (29,047) Top 10 Service – December 2010

17. 17 We have links in Directgov for the following seasonal services: 562/8: Find out about snow clearing services (county and unitary)562/8: Find out about snow clearing services 562/0: Request snow clearing services (county and unitary)562/0: Request snow clearing services 561/8: Find out about road gritting (county and unitary)561/8: Find out about road gritting 561/0: Request road gritting (county and unitary)561/0: Request road gritting 1140/8: Find out about emergency school closures (county and unitary)1140/8: Find out about emergency school closures 1307/8: Find out about services disrupted by severe weather (All)1307/8: Find out about services disrupted by severe weather Plus the not-so-seasonal but relevant: 555/8: Find out more about road flooding (county and unitary)555/8: Find out more about road flooding 555/0: Report road flooding (county and unitary)555/0: Report road flooding 557/8: Report a pothole (county and unitary)557/8: Report a pothole 558/0: Find out about personal injury caused by damage and/or hazards on roads and pavements (county and unitary)558/0: Find out about personal injury caused by damage and/or hazards on roads and pavements 558/8: Report personal injury caused by damage and/or hazards on roads and pavements (county and unitary)558/8: Report personal injury caused by damage and/or hazards on roads and pavements

18. 18 LDG Community

19. 19 Local Directgov Community Launched July 2010 Members: Local AuthoritiesVoluntary sector DirectgovBusiness Link NHS Choices Community days – July, October and December 2010 July 2011 February 2012 Board meets regularly – senior reps from partner organisations Online collaboration using Community of Practice http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk/welcome.do

20. 20 Local Directgov Community Aims: ‘Shaping the deal’ – working strategically on future developments Sharing assets – both public facing and ‘back office’ Collaboration on customer journeys through Government Sharing skills/knowledge Improving the Local Directgov application Improving the transparency of public data

21. 21 GDS and the single domain

22. 22 Single domain – a new approach Govt accepted Martha Lane Fox report and is implementing; Creating GDS, Mike Bracken, ex-Guardian new Executive Director Digital Creation of single domain for govt – Betagov replacing directgov, business link and corporate websites (clearer for citizens and cheaper for Govt) over 2012/13 Focus on customer insight Digital by default Agile governance and delivery Task focussed – simple language, clear call to action User needs – based on what people really want to do “only do what government does” – link to trusted partners for advice and guidance Google is your home page Template approach for departmental sites

23. 23 We need your help! Around 60 needs have been identified as local authority transactions in betagov delivery These will be implemented using Local Directgov links We are analysing the needs and matching back to LGSL scope and checking guides and answers already written for betagov to see if there are any more ‘local links’ we need to include in our work. We are working closely with the Betagov team in GDS to make sure these journeys work well. But we also need help from Local authority web teams to ensure that we have the right link in the LDG system to give the best possible journey. We are also hosting an event on 10th February to work jointly with GDS and some LA partners to develop ‘model’ LA pages for some key journeys. We will be seeking people to work with us prior to the event on some preliminary research. Let us know if you can help during December, January and February. Betagov is due soft launch end of January.

24. 24 Contact us localdirectgov@communities.gsi.gov.uk Advice: http://www.localdirect.gov.uk/support/ http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/ http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk/welcome.do