Agenda item

The Panel will receive a presentation on the DigiTV project and hear about an existing project run by Kirklees District Council.

Guy Giles and Joanne Preece from Kirklees District Council made a presentation on the use of Digital TV by councils.

• Kirklees Metropolitan District Council was responsible for the running of the Digital TV project. The project was designed to establish if there was any value in using Digital TV to deliver Council services. The project had expanded to include mobile telephones and kiosks.
• The target audience for Digital TV services are primarily those who wouldn’t have access to PC’s and broadband services, but with a reasonable chance of having Digital TV. The people most likely to need Council services were the ones least likely to have access to online services.
• At the time over 70 local authorities were signed up to the scheme. There were also police forces and housing associations signed up to the scheme.
• As well as allowing access to Council services, the system could be easily configured to link up to websites and databases to provide access to such things as choice based lettings for housing, arranging appointments and repeat prescriptions at doctor’s surgeries, employment opportunities, learndirect and local travel information. The link to Jobcentre Plus at Kirklees had been particularly successful.
• Members were informed there was a strong business case for implementing the service. To engage with the service would cost £12,000 which would reduce to £10,000 if cable services were not included. The costs are low because most of the services are already in place and just need connecting up to be accessible through television. The service was a cheaper way of delivering services to people than either face to face or over the telephone. It had been established that most of the people currently using the television service would not use websites but rather return to the telephone or face to face meetings.
• A bureau service is provided by Kirklees Council to keep the service up to date. Members noted that this service would only be as good as the information provided by the council, which had been a problem with the website. Members were advised that the bureau would chase up information to keep the service accurate. Eventually the Council would take over running the service themselves once they had seen how it all worked. Marketing the service would be important to get people using the system.
• Most people interact with the system using a remote control, using an interface similar to sending a text message via mobile phone. People tended to not want a keyboard in their living rooms.
• Members were concerned that some people – particularly the older generation – wanted the social interaction of dealing with people face to face and would not want to access Council services through Digital TV. Members were informed that some people would always want to interact with the council in other ways, but that this provided another option for people to self serve. This is useful for members of the public who may find it difficult to travel to council offices or who are not available during working hours. Members were also informed that two-way video was also being trialled, opening the possibility for face to face interaction that way.
• Members were concerned that some people had Digital TV and faced problems with reception quality. Members were advised that this was due to the service being provided by Freeview, and that this was generally not an interactive service. Most people accessing Council services would be provided with their digital service through either Sky or a cable provider, as a telephone connection to the digital receiver was also required. This method of connection to digital television suffers far less from reception difficulties.
• The analogue service would definitely close down and everyone would have to switch to a digital service at some point. Therefore it was almost inevitable that council services would be available through the medium. Members accepted it was a case of it either being available now or catching up later, but expressed some concern over the lack of social interaction with the service.

RECOMMENDATION

That the issue of access to Council services through Digital TV be looked at in more detail by the Council following the May elections.