Hartlepool Borough Council

Title

Development of a state of the art video conferencing suite 

Partners

Neighbouring authorities / Local businesses

Mission

Deliver a state of the art video conferencing suite that allows people to communicate and collaborate with their external partners e.g. DFE without needing to leave the town.  

We will share our discovery and outputs from the project with other local authorities.    

Impact

Internal – Reduced travel time and costs, increased attendance and improved collaboration with local and central government partners.   

External – Local businesses could access this facility when communicating with national and international business partners. This would link to regeneration schemes operating in the town.  

Project Two

Title

Create a Shared Digital Workspace to allow the Council’s approved partners to securely access the employee protection register

Partners

Local housing associations, health professionals, carer organisations

Mission

We will develop a secure workspace that will facilitate the sharing of information between the local authority and its partners. 

We will share our discovery and outputs from the project with other local authorities. 

Impact

Approved partners will be provided with tools to enable an incident search where a known risk to the workforce exists.  This intelligence will provide staff members who come into contact with the public on a daily basis a greater degree of protection, and safeguarding, to prevent against potentially violent / abusive situations.

The Council partner’s will also be able to share their intelligence, thus creating a more collaborative approach across the borough to safeguarding the workforce.

Title

Digitalisation of Council Tax Accounts

Partners

Neighbouring authorities

Mission

We will create an online Council Tax account enabling our residents to carry out more digital transactions, including viewing their Council Tax balance, applying for discounts and exemptions and requesting bills electronically.

We will share our discovery and outputs from the project with other local authorities. 

Impact

Council Tax payers will receive a more modern service from their local authority enabling them to take control of their council tax account.  Services will be available 24:7 potentially increasing revenue and take-up of benefits.

E-billing will also significantly reduce the administration costs of issuing annual bills.

Title

Using Alexa skills to support the Council’s Waste crews 

Partners

Neighbouring authorities

Mission

Waste crews will report missed bins and presentation errors using in-cab voice recognition technology.  Information will be transferred automatically by Alexa into the Council’s customer portal. 

We will share our discovery and outputs from the project with other local authorities.    

Impact

Internal – Crews will no longer be required to suspend rounds whilst they report issues.  All paper based administrative processes will cease.  This approach will allow a more responsive and efficient service, also facilitating safer driving practices.     

External – Residents will be able to view reported issues real time via the Council’s customer portal negating the need to make contact with the authority.   

This solution will be scalable and can be used across a multiple range of “Report it” services.