Have Your Say On Government Services

[Albert Tatlock]

This could be supported by data for example that we collect at the front line

 

Helmand Province?

Provincially Hell-Manned.

[johnquayleiom]

Nice to see you are settled in Dan. Plenty of your former colleagues around these parts!

 

When you've got our views what are you going to do? Tick a few boxes, draw up some stats and somehow justify how good our Government Services really are?

 

No doubt there will be a degree course in spin doctoring soon!

 

Everyone's views will be taken on board and used to inform the ongoing work to make Government services more accessible. This is a genuine attempt - which I'd hoped would not be seen as spin - to try and understand how the people who use Government's services would prefer to access them in the future.

 

Will you be completing the form?

 

"Views taken on board" ive heard that on the X factor, and i normally means i havent got a clue what im doing, im useless, but thanks for speaking to me simon.

[Chris Robertshaw]

Dan,

 

I missed the 'consultation on consultations' process that I understand has taken place so please forgive this very late comment on the subject. No reasonable person can be anything other than positive about having consultations and I welcome your initiative in bringing it to manxforums but what is extremely disappointing is the fact that Government does not then feed the results of this process back to the public - only their, the government's, conclusions. You will understand that some of us will think the process somewhat hollow as a result. I believe greater respect for, and increased engagement in, consultations would result if the government had the courage to publish an honest resume of the findings, in each case, of the various opinions expressed. The problem with consultations is that they are a little like an election where the voter was encouraged go to the polling booth only thereafter to be informed of the winner whilst being denied the full results. Such a ridiculous scenario would be unthinkable - so why is it acceptable in consultations? You have taken an important step forward here but will the next step follow?

[TurricanII]

There are plenty of issues with Gov services ranted about on ManxForums, I think you would get some good albeit critical feedback byreading through and PM'ing the posters and asking them to put their name behind their criticism.

[dandavies]

Nice to see you are settled in Dan. Plenty of your former colleagues around these parts!

 

When you've got our views what are you going to do? Tick a few boxes, draw up some stats and somehow justify how good our Government Services really are?

 

No doubt there will be a degree course in spin doctoring soon!

 

Everyone's views will be taken on board and used to inform the ongoing work to make Government services more accessible. This is a genuine attempt - which I'd hoped would not be seen as spin - to try and understand how the people who use Government's services would prefer to access them in the future.

 

Will you be completing the form?

 

"Views taken on board" ive heard that on the X factor, and i normally means i havent got a clue what im doing, im useless, but thanks for speaking to me simon.

 

 

Point taken. I will try and speak in plain English rather than management speak. How does 'we will listen to everyone' sound instead?

[dandavies]

Dan,

 

I missed the 'consultation on consultations' process that I understand has taken place so please forgive this very late comment on the subject. No reasonable person can be anything other than positive about having consultations and I welcome your initiative in bringing it to manxforums but what is extremely disappointing is the fact that Government do not then feed the results of this process back to the public - only their, the government's, conclusions. You will understand that some of us will think the process somewhat hollow as a result. I believe greater respect for, and increased engagement in, consultations would result if the government had the courage to publish an honest resume of the findings, in each case, of the various opinions expressed. The problem with consultations is that they are a little like an election where the voter was encouraged go to the polling booth only thereafter to be informed of the winner whilst being denied the full results. Such a ridiculous scenario would be unthinkable - so why is it acceptable in consultations? You have taken an important step forward here but will the next step follow?

 

I have every intention of collating all the responses and making them available - aside from the ones that include swearing. They'll all be included in a report which outlines where we'll go next and how we'll use the information collected. I genuinely want the responses from this consultation, alongside all the other data we're collecting to inform how we can change the way services are delivered to better suit the needs of the people that use them. Not intended as empty rhetoric but as an intention of how I want to proceed with this project.

[johnquayleiom]

Nice to see you are settled in Dan. Plenty of your former colleagues around these parts!

 

When you've got our views what are you going to do? Tick a few boxes, draw up some stats and somehow justify how good our Government Services really are?

 

No doubt there will be a degree course in spin doctoring soon!

 

Everyone's views will be taken on board and used to inform the ongoing work to make Government services more accessible. This is a genuine attempt - which I'd hoped would not be seen as spin - to try and understand how the people who use Government's services would prefer to access them in the future.

 

Will you be completing the form?

 

"Views taken on board" ive heard that on the X factor, and i normally means i havent got a clue what im doing, im useless, but thanks for speaking to me simon.

 

 

Point taken. I will try and speak in plain English rather than management speak. How does 'we will listen to everyone' sound instead?

 

Brilliant!! Ive filled it in now going to post it.

[Albert Tatlock]

This smells to me of the start of the business case for a £multi-multi-million e-government project, in the guise of efficiency and delivery of e-services. Internet and computerised drop in centres and the like.

 

Whilst I am not against such projects, the fact is they should have been done 5 - 10 years ago, as they were in the UK (I happened to have worked on one), and are one of the main reasons we have such a monstrous, double/treble handling and over-administered civil service IMO.

 

My only hope is that they are justified business cases, in the sense that they will pay for themselves by staff reductions, and not just become a project licence to use up even more money we haven't got. The reality will be, I suspect, because 'we do things differently to the UK' that we will have to create 'our own', and not be able to utilise all the commercial benefits of systems already developed elsewhere - and pay through the nose, again.

[manshimajin]

Thanks for putting out a consultation document.

 

One overall observation though - there is a real message in the fact that you have observed this to be needed.

 

Shouldn't people providing service to their clients already be checking whether these are appropriate and what improvements can be made - on a continuous basis? This is a normal business practice.

 

You may get a 'snapshot' from this exercise - which is helpful - but what should be delivered is continual excellent and appropriate service - a basic way of saving a lot of money by eliminating the costs of rectifying failures. Is there any methodology to measure 'failure cost' in public service departments - a number of years ago I undertook an exercise for an insurance company and it was 40% (approx) of management expenses - at that time banks were running 50-60%.

 

BTW have you identified what the front-line service providers feel needs to be improved?

[Moghrey Mie]

Hello

 

You may or may not be aware that the Government is currently seeking views on how public services on the Isle of Man are delivered, and how people might prefer to access Government services in the future.

 

 

I think that the Government employs far too many communication officers ... can you note that one please Dan.

 

BTW is everything now that desperate that IOMG are reduced to posting on here trying to whip up support?

 

Noted. Thanks.

 

I thought that by going to the forum, I'd engage the views of a group of people who generally aren't forward in coming backwards in telling you their point of view, not to mention people who have strong opinions on Government. A natural place to seek feedback on how people might want to deal with Government in the future. Just trying to do things a bit differently for a change - something of an experiment.

 

 

I think there could have been at least a list of government departments and their functions to make it clear the wide range of services your project is covering.

 

Moghrey Mie - you said you'd like a list of the services I'm covering. Well - it's pretty much everything. From paying your dog license to viewing planning applications to phoning Government to ask when the General Registry will be open. It's a broad range, but as you correctly pointed out, Government services mean different things to different people.

 

This consultation will form part of a broader exercise which will help to determine the best way to provide some services. For example there could be overwhelming support for people who want to use the internet more in their dealings with Government (I do). This could be supported by data for example that we collect at the front line which says that 7 out of 10 people who visit the DOT Sea Terminal simply want to pay a parking fine. This will help to prioritise the development of parking fines payment on the web.

 

Dan I don't think people on this site are forward in coming backwards-quite the opposite in fact.

 

It might be a useful exercise for the government to list everything they do. It may help them realise they are doing too much and would help rationalise their services.

[oldmanxfella]

Hello

 

You may or may not be aware that the Government is currently seeking views on how public services on the Isle of Man are delivered, and how people might prefer to access Government services in the future.

 

 

I think that the Government employs far too many communication officers ... can you note that one please Dan.

 

BTW is everything now that desperate that IOMG are reduced to posting on here trying to whip up support?

 

Noted. Thanks.

 

I thought that by going to the forum, I'd engage the views of a group of people who generally aren't forward in coming backwards in telling you their point of view, not to mention people who have strong opinions on Government. A natural place to seek feedback on how people might want to deal with Government in the future. Just trying to do things a bit differently for a change - something of an experiment.

 

But you play into peoples hands as demonstrated by the OP. I have to say I read that post and all I read was blurred corporate wank-speak that serves no purpose. Most people think the government provides overblown services sitting on its fat arse and there you go with an inflated post so full of management speak and, frankly, spin-esque soundbites that all you do is reinforce the view that IOMG has bugger all else of substance to do but launch pointless consultation documents.

[Dodger]

Dan,

 

How about a government website where you can book cinema, theatre, NSC and dragons castle, at present trying to phone through is frustrating as the staff are taking calls whilst they are covering the ticket sales desk and therefore there can be delays or total blanking of the call!

 

How about a blog page with ministers? Would give great feedback on a rotational basis, they are busy after all.

 

Planning, having the plans available to view online! It is such a pain having to go either to the planning office or local authority.

 

A search engine on the government website that actually works would be good, try it, it is pants! I generally have to contact Tynwald Library to get the info rather than spending hours scrolling through everything, filters to take out different years at least!

 

Just a few and much better than the standard tick boxes from the usual questionaire, though how you will consolidate the info I don't know.

[dandavies]

Dan,

 

How about a government website where you can book cinema, theatre, NSC and dragons castle, at present trying to phone through is frustrating as the staff are taking calls whilst they are covering the ticket sales desk and therefore there can be delays or total blanking of the call!

 

How about a blog page with ministers? Would give great feedback on a rotational basis, they are busy after all.

 

Planning, having the plans available to view online! It is such a pain having to go either to the planning office or local authority.

 

A search engine on the government website that actually works would be good, try it, it is pants! I generally have to contact Tynwald Library to get the info rather than spending hours scrolling through everything, filters to take out different years at least!

 

Just a few and much better than the standard tick boxes from the usual questionaire, though how you will consolidate the info I don't know.

 

I can take all of these and include them into the consultation. Thanks. All very useful stuff.

[dandavies]

Thanks for putting out a consultation document.

 

One overall observation though - there is a real message in the fact that you have observed this to be needed.

 

Shouldn't people providing service to their clients already be checking whether these are appropriate and what improvements can be made - on a continuous basis? This is a normal business practice.

 

You may get a 'snapshot' from this exercise - which is helpful - but what should be delivered is continual excellent and appropriate service - a basic way of saving a lot of money by eliminating the costs of rectifying failures. Is there any methodology to measure 'failure cost' in public service departments - a number of years ago I undertook an exercise for an insurance company and it was 40% (approx) of management expenses - at that time banks were running 50-60%.

 

BTW have you identified what the front-line service providers feel needs to be improved?

 

We're doing a whole load of different things as well as the consultation. I agree that failure costs or failure demands (or avoidable contact if you're in a UK local authority) do result in loads of wasted time / expense so we're trying to collect as much information on that as we can using exit surveys and staff tick sheets in some areas.

 

We're also talking to front line staff to get their thoughts on how services could be made better / improved. Like you say, they're often the best source of information on how things could be made better.

 

It's a big job when you look at the breadth of Government services so the first piece of work we need to do is look at the most popular services and target them. At the moment we're working with (the current) DoT, DoLGE and DHSS and collecting loads of information on things like volumes of contacts through walk-up, phone, internet etc as well as talking to staff and customers. This first piece of work should then give us some more detailed information to allow us to move on to the next step and target some specific areas first.

[bluemonday]

I see the US Department of State are on FarceFacebook

http://www.facebook.com/EngageStateDept?v=app_2373072738&ref=nf#!/EngageStateDept?v=wall&ref=nf

 

Possibly a viable way for the Manx governemnet to engage the Manx taxpayer?