Job Title:
Customer Information and Engagement Officer / Service:
People Directorate
Post Number: / Division:
People Directorate Resources
Grade:6 / Business Unit/Section:
People Directorate Engagement Team
Overall Purpose of Job:
Supporting the delivering of the People Directorate engagement strategies to its customers and workforce, meeting Government legislation and ensuring all messages are delivered in the most effective methods and their outcomes monitored.
Main Responsibilities:
1 / Support the ongoing development of the People Directorate Engagement Strategy and Engagement plans.
2 / Assisting in the development and implement of processes, procedures and standards to enable the People Directorate Engagement Strategy to be delivered.
3 / Develop effective communication channels across the Children’s, Adults and Public Health services including the wider council,external partners and government offices.
4 / Assist in ensuring that all relevant information is available to the Public, workforce and partners electronically within the council policies and guidelines for electronic communication.
5 / Maintain family information systems in order to analyse inform and advise parents, employers, carers, other professionals, the public and all stakeholders.
6 / Assist in the provision of a local area profile of childcare provision in order inform the childcare sufficiency assessment that responds to deficits in childcare provision and to meet the demands from parent’s employers and new government initiatives. .
7 / To be innovative in the development of the Family Information Service and other information services to meet the needs of all stakeholders.
8 / To work with colleagues and peers in other Family Information Services to extend knowledge and skills in order to identify and develop best practice
9 / As directed establish or develop links with statutory, voluntary and private agencies to maintain up to date and comprehensive information.
10 / Ensure the Family Information Service meets the minimum standards specified by the DfE and work towards a nationally recognised quality benchmark.
11 / To contribute towards the provision of a quality driven response front line information service for all, by receiving enquiries, answering questions providing advice and information on family support and the full range of childcare services.

Knowledge, Skill and Experience Required:

  1. In depth knowledge of effective methods of communication using non-technical and technical methods
  2. The ability to develop and implement processes, procedures and standards to deliver the outcomes of the People Directorate Communication Strategy.
  3. An up to date knowledge of the Governments vision, policy and legislation relating to meeting the needs of children, young people, families and adult social care.
  4. Practical knowledge of working on multiple projects and work schemes across a wide range of service areas internal and external to the council including an understanding of risk management and unexpected issues.
  5. Develop In depth knowledge and understanding of childcare provision and an understanding of family support and the needs of parents/carers in order to provide reassurance, choice and comprehensive information when personal contact is made. Family Support is to include; Childcare, Anti-bullying, sex and relationships, parenting and other service that support people to be the best parents they can be.
  6. Experience of working in partnership with statutory, private and voluntary agencies
  7. An understanding of the functions of the Local Authority in implementing Local and National policies centred on Children and Adult Services.
  8. Practical knowledge of the organisation, management and review of events, conferences and all forms of gatherings aimed at sharing information.
  9. Excellent interpersonal skills in order to work with and form networks with a range of providers, parents, children, employers and other stakeholders and professionals who work within the childcare infrastructure.
  10. Motivation and enthusiasm for current and forthcoming government initiatives on Children’s and Adult services, and empowering local providers to work together to provide quality provision to meet the needs of all children.
  11. A commitment to establishing and maintaining equality of opportunity and access in People Directorate services.
  12. Comprehensive negotiation and influencing skills
  13. The ability to clearly communicate verbally, in a written format and front of an audience about People Directorate and related services that can be understood by different audiences including professionals, the public, children, young people and adults involved with services. Including the ability to help diverse audiences understand complex information.
  14. Ability to creatively design information systems to collate data, which will be of interest to the public and can be utilised innovatively in the creation of new childcare provision.
  15. Knowledge and experience of using IT applications, databases and tracking information, and manipulating and presenting data to all interested stakeholders.
  16. Experience of the delivery and development of services to customers.
  17. Comprehensive negotiation and influencing skills
  18. A high level of innovative and original thinking to provide solutions to problems that have not been encountered before

Creativity & Innovation
  1. To continually evaluate and apply new and emerging technologies and communication channels where no previous service experience may exist. Re-evaluating and offering recommendations on procedural and policy changes to enable services to benefit from the functionality provided by these new channels and technologies.
  1. To have the vision and imagination to discern the potential benefits of timely engagement with customers and the workforce to support methods of achieving key service objectives across a diverse set of services within the Directorate.
  1. To use creativity to research and specify innovative solutions to business engagement problems, working within the Council Policies and Procedures, including the need to overcome cultural barriers and resistance to change.
  1. To respond quickly and intelligently to Government initiatives which relate to the service under the guidance of the People Directorate Engagement Team Manager.
  1. Developing a wide range of information systems to be used by the public and other officers and stakeholders.
  1. Co-ordination of the Family Information Services publicity as part of the wider early years services.
  1. To be innovative in setting targets for the presentation of information to all customers including adults, parents, children and professionals in a creative manner.
  1. Providing appropriate support and information for all professionals in the development of new and existing provisions relating to People Directorate services.

Decision Making:
  • Decides on the most appropriate action on issues that can have an impact (positive or negative) on the council within the remit of the role. The post holder is working with services to children, adults and the public of North Lincolnshire where potentially controversial Government directives are involved.
  • Decides on the best change management and engagement practices to support the embedding of solutions into multiple stakeholders’ working practices where failure can impact on the support and development of children, families and older people in North Lincolnshire.
  • Contributes to decisions on the direction of the service that the team will supply, the presentation, costs of Service Level agreements and resources to be allocated to ensure that customers understand the scope of the services being offered and customer service issues are kept to a minimum.
  • Contributes to decisions on the technology that can support and improve services to the Peoples Directorate and external partners. The selection of appropriate technology with the correct change management strategy enables services to be improved and service budgets to become more cost effective. Savings can also be made in non-financial areas for example saving the time it takes to complete a task so the officer can use their available time to more effect.
  • Decides on the appropriateness of sharing information in line with the Information Sharing protocols and the post holder’s in depth knowledge of the Data Protection Act ensuring the council is not open to claims of misuse of data resulting in legal action.

Contacts and Relationships:
  • The Strategic Partnership Framework (including the various multi-agency partnerships such as Local Safeguarding Children Board, Safeguarding Adults Board, (LSCB), LSCB Action Groups Youth Offending Management Board, Adult Social Care Management boards ) – Providing information and presentations on national and local programmes associated with the delivery of the People Directorate and service area plans .
  • Cabinet Members, Executive Management Team, Senior Management Teams – Providing written and verbal reports on programme updates, new policies, procedures and challenging current practice within the Council and with external partners.
  • Council partners (emergency services, NHS organisations, schools etc), other local authority managers and other stakeholders (voluntary and private concerns) – Engaging on the national programme and driving forward change to ensure the successful embedding of the roles, policies, procedures and technologies with the programme.
  • The council’s Public Relations and Design Teams to ensure that messages and communications from the People Directorate are within council communication policies and to seek support in design and implementation of communication materials.
  • Service Managers, operational managers and practitioners/employees of the council – Engaging on the engagement programme and driving forward change for the National and local developments to support their services to adults, children, young people and families within North Lincolnshire. Challenging current practice and negotiating change management plans to ensure change is undertaken and embedded in services. Consulting and contracting Service Levels Agreements for the delivery of services, troubleshooting issues and working in partnership to achieve joint service aims.
  • The registrar to ensure the successful provision of birth and death information through the ‘Tell us Once’ and similar schemes.
  • Suppliers and leading designers of technology – to consider current and emerging technologies that can enable the council to improve its services and meet its strategic vision.
  • Team members and contractors allocated to deliver projects – to provide support and direction to ensure council policies, service standards and staff development. To communicate change and ensure the team is working together to deliver the strategic vision.

Responsibility for Resources: (to include approximate value, sole or shared responsibility and for what percentage of their working hours away from their designated base)
  • Responsible for the safe keeping of personal laptop computer and peripherals to the value of £2,000.00 (Sole responsibility)
  • Away from the designated office 30% of the time

WORK ENVIRONMENT
Work Demands:
Daily re-prioritisation of work due to changes in business needs, policies and strategic direction
Conflicting demands, requirements and expectations by different service areas can affect available resources and achievable solutions.
The post holder is required to ensure, and work to several project deadlines running concurrently, failure to meet these deadlines would have a major impact on the services ability to provide statistical information and day to day business requirements.
Part of the work is reactive and the post holder on occasions has to respond immediately to staff emails and correspondence
Physical Demands:
  • Desk based, using computer keyboard and VDU.
  • Occasional requirement to lift packages.
  • Photocopying, faxing

Working Conditions:
  • Office based.
  • Regular need to visit other council venues to attend meetings (30% of time)

Work Context:
  • VDU screen used regularly. Policy document in place that governs the safe working practice
  • Keyboard used regularly. Use of appropriate wrist rests for keyboard and mouse made available. Promote correct chair height and posture.
  • Minimal risk to personal safety of injury, illness or health conditions

Position in Organisation:
Indicate how many staff the post is directly accountable for: 0

Does the postholder manage the posts No

Organisational Structure

Note:

Post holders will be expected to be flexible in undertaking the duties and responsibilities attached to their post and may be asked to perform other duties, which reasonably correspond to the general character of the post and are commensurate with its level of responsibility. This job description is provided for guidance only and does not form part of the contract of employment.

Date of Job Description…………………………….

Date copy sent to Post holder…………………………….

Corporate Services Cabinet Member 12 November 2003