We asked the usual questions about whether you’re satisfied with our information services – Daily News, Policy Briefings – so we can check the quality of our work compared with previous years. The good news is over 90% of our users think we’re providing very high or high quality services – with 99% ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with our Daily News bulletins. We’re pleased to be able to provide this service to you 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year (with a couple of days off for Christmas!).
“I find the daily updates invaluable.” Councillor, North West
This year, we also asked questions that we’ve never asked before. We wanted to know how you personally feel you’ve benefited from your council being a member of LGiU. Across the country, gaining new useful information is the number one way people feel they’ve benefited.
We also asked what sources of information people use when they want to know something. Unsurprisingly, although people use a wide range of resources, Google is the clear winner. When people want to know something, they Google it. LGiU was in second place, with news websites and newspapers a close third.
We’ve been in the papers a lot this year, with over a thousand media hits, and we wanted to know if you’d seen us mentioned – or mentioned us yourself in a chat with a colleague. Over 500 of the subscribers who responded to the survey had had conversations about LGiU in the past year. Around 300 had seen us mentioned in a national newspaper, a trade publication or at a conference.
“I really appreciate all your work – very valuable, thank you.” Officer, South West
One of the most fundamental questions we asked was ‘What does LGiU do best?’. According to the survey results, what our members think that what we do best is – by a wide margin – providing information about policy developments and news headlines to local government. Providing a voice for local government in the media comes in second, while incubating new ideas to support local government is in third place.
We also asked about what our members would like us to do in the future. Naturally, you said you would like us to continue providing our information services – no surprise there! Influencing central government is a key thing that people would like LGiU to do more of in the future.
“I find your alerts and policy briefings very useful, help keep me informed, right length to digest and I can research further if relevant, thanks.” Officer, London
We know that not everyone is aware of the full range of what we do and what membership of LGiU means. This year, we’ve experimented with using our Daily News bulletin to highlight relevant briefings – next year, we’ll look at more ways of letting you know what else is available to you.
For some people, frequency of emails is an issue. Next year, we’ll be looking at how to design our information services so you have genuine choice over how many emails you get. We’ll also signpost opportunities to make those choices.
A number of people would like to see us work more locally, from events to briefings to support. In 2018, we’ll work hard to show you that we’re focused on local government across the UK. In recent years, we’ve launched offices in Edinburgh and Dublin, as well as holding hundreds of events across England.
Finally, congratulations to the winners of the book vouchers and the coveted Stress Paul… the prizes are on their way to officers and councillors in Durham, Surrey Heath, Wealden and Rochdale.
