Agenda Item No. 7 Report to: Scrutiny Committee for Community Services

Date: 23 November 2007

By: Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Resources Title of report: Information Kiosks and Community Help Points

Purpose of report: To provide an update on the usage and location of Community Help Points and Information Kiosks.

RECOMMENDATIONS The Committee is recommended to:

1. Consider and comment on the levels of usage of Community Help Points and Information Kiosks. 2. Consider and comment on the location of Community Help Points and Information Kiosks.

1. Financial Appraisal 1.1 Programme set-up and annual running costs are provided in Appendix 1.

2. Introduction 2.1 In late 2004 the County Council embarked on a programme of work with district and borough councils under the banner of the Access East partnership (AES) to improve physical access to services and information.

2.2 The programme has as part of a wider remit established nine Community Help Points and fifty Information Kiosks aimed at:

• Offering greater choice of access to customers • Extending community presence by using existing local buildings • Delivering more efficient and co-ordinated access across public sector partners.

2.3 Effort has been made when planning the location of help points and kiosks to ensure they provide even geographical coverage across the county where feasible, such that the majority of the population lives within five miles of the nearest outlet.

3. Community Help Points

3.1 The role of Community Help Points is to act as a helpful ‘signpost’ to information and services.

3.2 The community help point model has not changed since being introduced with seven of the nine outlets currently supporting AES Partnership services. The remaining sites at Hastings and Eastbourne boroughs support their own services only.

3.3 Two libraries ( and Heathfield) provide community help point services. The majority if not all remaining libraries are likely to undertake similar duties but on an informal basis.

3.4 A number of different systems for recording the volume, type and outcome of customer contacts are in use across the various help points making it difficult to collect and interpret information and enable any sound judgement to me made on the effectiveness of the service.

3.5 Comparative figures of usage covering the periods April to October 2006 and 2007 are provided in Appendix 2.

4. Information Kiosks

4.1 Information Kiosks are standalone PC-type devices that provide internet access to AES partner and other local services, supporting transactional capability for fault reporting, on-line payment of council taxes and other similar processes.

4.2 Kiosks are sited across the county at a mix of public (about 60%) and commercial (about 40%) locations. Appendix 3 shows current locations and whether at Community Help Points or other sites.

4.3 Usage figures provided in Appendix 4 show some fluctuation between sites with heaviest use occurring at larger commercial outlets. Although some figures are low there may be justification for retaining them at their current locations because they offer access to services not otherwise available locally to those who use them.

4.4 An AES working party is currently progressing a number of changes aimed at improving the reliability and general effectiveness of kiosks with focus on the following areas:

• Standardisation of technical components and Broadband download speed • Introduction of a user feedback facility • Management of faults through the corporate ICT Service Desk rather than a third-party • Identification of options for extending the range of services supported including the voluntary and community sector • Marketing.

SEAN NOLAN Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Resources

Contact Officer: Stefan Danielczyk Tel No: 01273 482732

Local Members: All Background Documents: None APPENDIX 1 Community Help Point and Information Kiosk Set-Up & Running Costs

ESCC Contribution to CHP/Kiosk Programme Eastbourne Hastings Lewes Rother DC Wealden Community Help Points Set-Up Costs 50% Nil (Note 1) Nil (Note 1) Nil (Note 1) £33,450 Nil (Note 2)

Community Help Points - Annual Running Costs 30% Nil (Note 1) Nil (Note 1) Nil (Note 1) £23,150 Nil (Note 2)

Information Kiosk Set-Up Costs 33% Nil (Note 3) £13,047 £6,655 £30,249 £43,260

Information Kiosk Annual Running Costs 25% Nil (Note 3) £1,048 £524 £2,358 £3,406

Information Kiosk Re-deployment Costs: Kiosk removal £205 Re-installation £265 BT line/Broadband Installation £107 Total £577

Kiosk Annual Unit Running Costs: BT line rental £165 Broadband rental £342 Third-party Managed Service Charge £540 Insurance (Note 4) £225 Total £1,272

NOTES Note 1: Eastbourne/Hastings CHPs support own services only. Lewes has no CHP capability. Note 2: Set-up costs for / CHPs offset against CHP costs in Heathfield/Uckfield libraries borne by ESCC. Note 3: Eastbourne have no Information Kiosks. Note 4: Partners make their own insurance arrangements. ESCC costs currently £225 per unit. APPENDIX 2 COMMUNITY HELP POINT ENQUIRIES - 1 April 2006 to 31 October 2006 and 1 April 2007 to 31 October 2007

Number Closed @ Number Closed @ Lead Authority/Partner Location Site Address Services Supported Number of Visits First Point of Tier 2 Contact Contact

2006 2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 (April - (April - (April - (April - (April - (April - Oct) Oct) Oct) Oct) Oct) Oct)

EASTBOURNE BC (Note 1) Grove Road 64 Grove Road, Eastbourne EBC services only 44,657 43,587 12,733 14,740 31,924 28,847

ESCC LIBRARIES (Note 2) Heathfield High Street, Heathfield. AES partner services 127 144 102 115 25 29 Uckfield High Street, Uckfield AES partner services 566 672 453 538 113 134

HASTINGS BC (Note 2) Hastings Priory Meadow, Queen's Road HBC services only 190,780 235,681 152,624 188,545 38,156 47,136

LEWES DC No CHP presence 000

ROTHER DC (Note 2) Battle Market Square, Battle AES partner services 11486 11833 9,189 9,466 2,297 2,367 Bexhill Town Hall, Bexhill AES partner services 30,817 47,531 24,654 38,025 6,163 9,506 Rye Cinque Ports Street, Rye AES partner services 4,034 11,791 3,227 9,433 807 2,358

WEALDEN DC (Note 2) Hailsham Vicarage Road, Hailsham AES partner services 12,405 12,701 9,924 10,161 2,481 2,540 Crowborough Pine Grove, Crowborough AES partner services

Totals 294,872 363,940 212,905 271,022 81,967 92,918

Note 1 - Split between first point of contact and Tier 2 is actual.

Note 2 - Split between first point of contact and Tier 2 is estimated @ 80:20. Location of Public Information Points in East Sussex

Groombridge I-

I- I,Crowborough I-

Mayfield I- I- I- I- I- I- I,Uckfield I- I-I-I, I- I- I-Rye

Horam I- I- Battle I- Westfield

I- Crowhurst I- I- Lewes I-I- HaI-stings I- I,Hailsham I-I- I-Bexhill I-I,I-I- I- I-, I- I- I- PeacehavenNewhaven I- I- Eastbourne I-Seaford I- ´ Legend This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the I, Community permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her 0 2 4 8 12 16 Majesty’s Stationary Office © Crown copyright. Unauthorised I- Information reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or Kilometers civil proceedings. 100019601. 2007. APPENDIX 4 Kiosk Usage January 2006 to September 2007

Commercial (C) Number of Average Kiosk Site or Public (P) Owning Body Kiosk Installed Users Since Users Per Removed Building Introduction Month

Rushlake Green (The Stores) C Heathfield Partnership 16/12/2005 526 26 Hastings Aquila House P Hastings BC 14/11/2006 579 28 Mayfield Post Office (redeployed to the Inn) C Wealden DC 23/03/2006 04/11/2006 208 30 Ore Valley (Children's Centre) P ESCC Children's Centre 11/07/2006 441 34 Hastings Regeneration & Planning P Hastings BC 14/11/2006 758 36 (Horam (Wessons Café) CHeathfield Partnership 28/08/2005 939 39 Fairlight (Post Office) C Rother DC 07/09/2005 1012 44 (Village Information Centre) CWealden DC 07/03/2006 960 53 Willingdon Trees (Children's Centre) P ESCC Children's Centre 18/12/2006 1119 56 Hastings (Library) P ESCC Library 28/03/2006 1168 69 Post Office (redeployed to Hailsham Town Council) C Wealden DC 04/01/2006 19/12/2006 702 70 Northiam (Spar Stores) C Rother DC 31/08/2005 1718 72 Winchelsea Community Store (redeployed to the New Inn) C Rother DC 05/12/2005 17/05/2007 1446 72 Bexhill (Community Help Point) P Rother DC 22/09/2005 1694 74 Robertsbridge (Youth Centre) P Rother DC 01/06/2006 1130 75 Heathfield (Halfmoon Inn) CHeathfield Partnership 12/08/2005 1812 76 Etchingham (Community Store) CRother DC 23/02/2006 1577 88 Heathfield (Library) P Wealden DC 17/11/2005 1866 89 Hailsham Town Council P Wealden DC 09/07/2007 178 89 Peacehaven Library (Library) P ESCC Library 26/04/2006 1441 90 Battle (Library) P ESCC Library 21/04/2006 1447 90 Laughton (Roebuck Inn) C Wealden DC 09/09/2006 1170 98 Hailsham (Library) P ESCC Library 01/03/2006 1775 99 Five Ash Down -Firemen's Inn (currently held in store) C Wealden DC 15/10/2006 04/09/2007 1017 102 Hailsham (Children's Centre) P ESCC Children's Centre 12/01/2006 1948 103 Ticehurst (Post Office) C Rother DC 31/08/2005 2466 103 Seaford (Library) P ESCC Library 27/04/2006 1670 104 Robsack Children's Centre P ESCC Children's Centre 24/07/2006 1399 108 Crowborough (Community Help Point) P Wealden DC 08/03/2006 1938 108 Hastings Information Centre P Hastings BC 15/10/2006 2370 108 Peacehaven (Children's Centre) P ESCC Children's Centre 21/07/2006 1461 112 Rye (Library) P ESCC Library 29/03/2006 1984 117 Forest Row (Co-op Stores) C Wealden DC 08/03/2006 2109 124 Little Common (Co-op Stores) C Rother DC 08/03/2006 2139 126 Lewes (Library) P ESCC Library 31/08/2005 3022 126 Wadhurst Post Office (redeployed to Forest Row CC) CWealden DC 07/03/2006 23/07/2007 1766 126 Uckfield Library (Community Help Point) PESCC Library 06/04/2006 2124 133 Hastings Tourist Information Centre P Hastings BC 15/10/2006 2966 135 Eastbourne Library (inactive from 03/07 to 06/07) P ESCC Library 22/04/2006 2251 141 Heathfield (Youth Centre) P Heathfield Partnership 07/06/2006 2055 147 Forest Row Community Centre P Wealden DC 23/07/2007 308 154 Bexhill (Library) P ESCC Library 22/04/2006 2478 155 Hailsham (Community Help Point) P Wealden DC 17/04/2006 2625 164 Newick (The Store) C Lewes DC 30/05/2006 2726 182 Uckfield (Civic Centre) P Wealden DC 05/01/2006 3521 185 Heathfield (Co-op Stores) C Heathfield Partnership 11/05/2005 5297 196 (Co-op Stores) C Wealden DC 04/01/2006 4512 237 Lower Willingdon (Alldays Stores) C Wealden DC 05/01/2006 4632 244 Buxted (Buxted Inn) C Wealden DC 23/03/2007 1219 244 Winchelsea New Inn C Rother DC 09/08/2007 246 246 Sidley (Co-op Stores) C Rother DC 21/10/2005 6974 317 Newhaven (Sainsbury's Stores) C Lewes DC 24/09/2006 6644 554 1 unit held in store 1 unit held for testing and support NOTE: 50 kiosk units are available. 47 units are currently deployed and two held in store pending relocation. One unit is held for test and support purposes.