Latest council cuts proposed - YOUR ESSENTIAL SERVICES AFFECTED

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Permalink Reply by matt on January 25, 2011 at 13:19

As Mrs B said above, free local papers can be utilized such as The Haringey Independent. They would no doubt be interested in the boost to their readership numbers and consequently provide a reasonable rate to the council.

 

Call 0844 4993112 today Alan. You might save the council some money!

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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on January 25, 2011 at 15:28

The Independent and the Advertiser I seem to recall in the days before HP and HoL printed the most ridiculously one sided anti-council bile. Clive would probably have blushed.

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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on January 28, 2011 at 19:06

Just like the coalition, some of us are going for the "soft targets" and "low hanging fruit". Think back to what the local newspapers used to get away with saying about the council before the HP magazine. I wish I'd kept some of them.

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Permalink Reply by 3ux6xlgmdwgxx on January 27, 2011 at 12:40

good points - also why do they come wrapped in plastic

most of the articles are repeated 2 or 3 times each year - boring and pointless

another small point - why do they need to put a whole sheet of A4 paper with just your name and address in the envelope when they send out your rent statement? have they never learned how to address envelopes - just think of all that paper saving

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Permalink Reply by MrsBaldwin on January 26, 2011 at 7:32

Eric Pickles?  Yes, yes I know what *he* thinks.  

 

As I said on an earlier post I'm no lover of Tory cuts.

 

But if it were a choice between a nursery nurse, a park keeper (or several of the above) ... and Haringey People I wouldn't choose HP. 

 

Alan is in some sense right to say 'digital hasn't got the coverage' - what I think he means is that there are a lot of people in the boro who don't use the internet. I agree.  That isn't a reason not to start redeveloping the website to better digitise the council's communications overall. 

 

And like other posters have asked, I'd like to see the VFM sums on HP - truly, if it were reduced to 2 issues a year (whether in a newspaper insert or as a freestanding newssheet - or as posters, or whatever) would it make any difference to the levels of attendance at the classes etc advertised on the back page? 

 

John is right too - council publications were in some sense born out of frustrations with the miserabilism of the local press. But those were different times.

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Permalink Reply by MrsBaldwin on January 26, 2011 at 7:34

BTW in case anyone in Haringey comms office (ie the authors of HP) are reading - you do a good job with the magazine you have, nothing wrong with the quality of the publication etc.  Just think the resource needs to be retargeted now.

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Permalink Reply by Pressdesk at Haringey Council on January 26, 2011 at 13:53

Haringey People is produced to keep residents informed of the council’s policies and actions.  The council believes it is people’s right to receive this information and our duty provide it.  Moreover, we know from the independently run annual survey of residents’ views, to which we subscribe, that the magazine is consistently rated well above all other sources of information about the council.  Not to produce HP would therefore seriously compromise our ability to account to local residents on how we take decisions and how we spend council taxes.   Also, as a council committed to equality we would also find it unacceptable to reduce access to information by publishing only on the web.  As for format, we do not want to emulate commercial newspapers.  We want to ensure that when residents receive HP it is clear that this is a council publication carrying important information about our services. We have already cut costs considerably by cutting from ten editions a year to six.

 

We are also looking at cost effective ways of improving online services and moving more transactions online. We will work alongside hyperlocal websites where possible to help encourage people to use online channels. Harringay Online itself does a good job of re-posting news items and directing people to consultations, local planning apps. and our report a problem page.

 

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Permalink Reply by pamish on January 26, 2011 at 14:34

It has to be possible to have two parallel ways of distributing HP. One, a mailing list. Two, an e-list of those who prefer to receive it via an email advising them that the latest edition is now up on the LBH website, nicely formatted using that page-turning software as used by many online papers now, see eg Tottenham Journal

You have to produce the artwork anyway so why not save the paper-based distribution costs by encouraging people to sign up to an e-list? You could also derive stats from that which would tell you what people actually read.

 

I note that you don't support the Post Office when you do the mailout, so I have no worries about taking funds away from the privatised mailing skimmers.

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Permalink Reply by MrsBaldwin on January 26, 2011 at 15:36

Oooh I would like to receive HP by email - much prefer it in fact.

 

As pamish said there is the added bonus of being able to directly quantify clickthroughs etc.

 

Haringey Press Office - great that it is my right to receive council information.  But if it came to the crunch I would rather it was my right to access a Surestart nursery place or take my child to play in a well-maintained park. 

 

Question: in the independent survey of residents, is HP rated above the website?

 

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on January 26, 2011 at 17:07

For more on HP - click the tag, just beneath Matt's original post.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on January 27, 2011 at 11:55

"Haringey was accused of cutting £2M of services to the elderly yet spending a similar amount on website updates . . "

If you'd used the HoL searchbox (top right of the page) you would quickly have found this thread which sets out the facts. This is a rehash of an old and and inaccurate story - originally in the Daily Telegraph. The HoL thread includes an email and spreadsheet from Kevin Crompton, the Chief Executive setting out the replies to the Freedom of Information Act requests made.

Do you not accept any responsibility at all for checking what you post on a public website? Especially when that website itself has a recorded discussion of those facts?

I don't doubt that Haringey could run its website more cheaply by reducing the material there. Although it's also very likely that this could increase costs overall. Mr Crompton explained why:

"Many thousands of residents use the website to keep them informed and to access services quickly and at their convenience. Cutting online services would increase costs overall to the taxpayer because we would need to use other, more expensive means of communication such as telephone calls.  The relative costs of transactions are:  face-to-face - £8.23; telephone - £3.21; and web - £0.39 (based on data from the Society of IT Managers).

We do of course look for savings where they can be made without affecting convenience and usability.   An example is the current re-tendering of the web cast service.

Haringey was one of only 76 councils to respond to the FOI request and, in line with our policy of openness we provided a fully comprehensive answer, showing all running costs.  I am satisfied that we achieve good value in our website provision when judged on a level field."

 

(Alan Stanton: Tottenham Hale ward councillor)

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on January 27, 2011 at 14:10

I "go off on one" as you put it, because you repeat an untruth without bothering to check it. Linking this untruth to £2 million cuts on services "to the elderly" as if somebody sat down and made a straight choice between them.

The electric charging points issue is another inaccuracy. The money comes from Transport for London who are trying to build a pan-London infrastructure to encourage the uptake of electric cars. Want to know more? Ask Boris Johnson.

But you won't be doing that, will you? Because the game is kicking Haringey.

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