Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network
Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network
(England and Wales)
Meeting:Advisory Group
Date:8 June 2011
Title:Considerations for Regional Roles and Responsibilities in relation to the Our Watch Website
Author:Kate Daisley
Position:Operations Director
Status:Public
1. Background
1.1 This report follows on from the ‘Position Statement for the Rollout of the NHWN National Database and Communication System’ paper (Appendix A) which was presented to the Advisory Group on 12 April 2011. Regional Representatives agreed to consult with their members and to send responses to the Chair by 6 May 2011.
1.2 Based on this consultation, this paper outlines recommendations for key issues regarding the regional rollout of the website for each region to discuss at their next regional meeting.
1.3 The Regional Communications Administrator (Appendix B) and Regional Webmaster (Appendix C) role descriptions (previously circulated) are also encompassing background papers. Excluding Wales and London, all other regions have now identified suitable volunteers and have received initial training to undertake these roles.
Regional Webmaster
1.4 The role of Regional Webmaster is one which is less complex than that of the Regional Communications Administrator and is easier to describe and maintain. This role does not require a police or CRB check to undertake as the Webmaster will not have access to any personal data or work directly with children or vulnerable adults.
1.5 Training has been given to those people who have been identified and agreed by the Regions to undertake this role and a training pack has been given along with a login and password for them to use with immediate effect.
1.6 The general user administration responsibility sits with the NHWN Information and Database Administration and the overall responsibility with the Operations Director. The role of the regions is to ensure their Regional Webmaster has the content which they need to populate the regional pages and ensure that regional web pages reflect the region as a whole. This includes providing useful links, information, news and events to promote and showcase the variety of schemes and activities.
1.7 Currently the website only has the facility to go down to regional level for certain areas and pages. This was highlighted as a potential issue mid-way through the design process as an area of concern for London where there is 32 Boroughs plus the City. However, it was too far into the design process to amend the way the website was being developed to reflect this during this time.
1.8 Further investment as ‘phase 2’ of the website development will be needed to create a further layer of pages for force and county (Boroughs in London). However, details to how and when phase 2 may emerge have not been identified yet.
1.9 The region can identify, recruit and induct further Webmasters at a force or county level in line with local requirements. This will allow for the regional pages to be more reflective of Force and County information and links to local websites can be included and kept up-to-date. Guidance on how to add additional Webmasters will be available in due course from the Information and Database Officer, along with on-going support for the Regional Webmasters from the NHWN office.
1.10 It will be for the Regional Webmaster to ensure that the regional pages are following the NHWN brand guidelines and do not have any inappropriate or out of date content on them. NHWN staff will have direct contact with the Regional Webmasters and will refer any enquiries from their region regarding their web pages back to the Regional Webmaster.
Regional Communications Administrator
1.11 The role of the Regional Communications Administrator (RCA) is somewhat more complex and needs more consideration than that of the Regional Webmaster at this time. The complexities are highlighted in the Position Statement from March 2011, and for that reason devolvement on certain administrative roles and responsibilities to the regions is essential.
1.12 The RCA’s role will, once other Communications Administrators have been identified and trained be one of an overseeing role as well as to induct, train and assist other Communications Administrators within their region. This role is outlined in the role description but the details as to how this may operate within each region are to be agreed by each region.
1.13 Each RCA has received initial training by VISAV in Nottingham with the need for further training regarding sending a message and allocating areas to other administrators. This will be done via Net Meetings (hosted by VISAV) which the RCAs can sign into on a weekly basis as and when they are available or need support or assistance.
1.14 The Board has previously agreed that all Communications Administrators at NHWN level (Directors, Regional and staff) need to have either a police or CRB check (undertaken and paid for by NHWN). This is due to the level of personal data which is available and being managed by the overarching Communications Administrations and the RCA.
1.15 This process is currently being undertaken prior to each RCA receiving a user log in and password to access the Alert Database. Each RCA is also required to read and sign a Neighbourhood Alert Administration Access Agreement which is valid for a period of one year. NHWN office is responsible for the management of the administration for RCA’s and above.
1.16 As a grassroots movement and therefore having limited resources at the national office, the need for the devolvement of the administration and responsibilities to a regional level and beyond is paramount. Each region needs to agree the process they wish to put in place regarding checks and procedures for additional Communication Administrators within their region.
1.17 Regarding police and CRB checks this varies for each force area. Considerable police checks are already in place in some areas for any police volunteers who may also be NHW coordinators who may use police stations in their roles. However, in other areas or for volunteers who have been identified as potentially undertaking a role of County/Force Communications Administrator and are not a police volunteer so has not had a police check performed, the regions will need to consider what processes are put in place.
1.18 The role of the RCA will also vary depending on the methods of communication which the force areas within the region operate. Many police forces have community messaging systems which they send out to a database which may include NHW members. In some areas, communication is high on the agenda and substantial time and funding has been invested to ensure the community and NHW members are kept informed and communicate with each other and with key partners such as the Police. In other areas, NHW may have a communication method with their database of members, but overall, there is no set way of communicating NHW messages.
2. Regional Considerations
2.1Referring back to the Position Statement regarding the benefits and rationale for a national database of schemes and how this can be achieved across England and Wales, it is recommended that the regions consider the following points at the next available regional meeting:
2.1.1 What communication systems are in place across their region?
2.1.2 Has each force area a different position with regards to communication with members at a force and/or national level?
2.1.3 For those with a good communication system in place (whatever system that may be), what is the most appropriate method to signpost schemes on the Our Watch website and ensure that members who have signed up to the local communication system received relevant messages sent out by NHWN (national and regional) and by other partners?
2.1.4 The methods by which this can be done are listed in item 4 of the Position Statement and should be explored by each force area or areas defined by the use of a communication system. It should be for each area and then region to determine how these are approached and contact NHWN to help put the agreed deliverables into place.
2.1.5 Also, it would be of benefit to each of the Force Communications Administrators if each police force would provide a KML file for the beat, LPU and county boundaries. This will be available in each force and it would save considerable time for Communications Administrators if this file could be shared with you and NHWN to drop into the scheme management area.
2.1.6 If there is not a suitable communication system in place, then for the region/county/force to identify, recruit and train suitable Communications Administrators to utilise the full range of exclusive tools available on Neighbourhood Alert.
2.1.7 Prior to additional Communications Administrators being identified, for the regional to agree and put in place a process regarding police and CRB checks. The administration and coordination of this must be done at a regional level and then at each subsequent level below, as there is no capacity to administer this at a national level. Fees for CRB checks can be covered by NHWN and an expenses claim should be sent to NHWN with proof of payment.
2.1.8 A Regional (and subsequent levels below) Neighbourhood Alert Administration Access Agreement should be in line with the NHWN as circulated to all RCO prior to allowing access to the system. The agreements should reflect regional procedures and should be sent out and kept on file at a regional (and subsequent levels below).
2.1.9 Consideration is needed to training subsequent Communications Officers as being a grassroots organisation, such a budget to support face to face level on such a grand scale is not currently available. VISAV has produced video help packages for people registering and will be using similar methods to help provide online training package for Communication Administrators. However, a provisional funding bid to Nominet has been submitted for NHWN to deliver regional training events in late 2011.
3. Next Steps
3.1 Each Regional Representative to feedback to the Advisory Group on how their region plans to take the recommendations forward and key action points arising from this. This will then allow central coordination to take place based on regional plans and highlights any areas for further consideration/action needed by the Board of Directors.
Appendix A
Neighbourhood & Home Watch Network
Position Statement for the Rollout of the NHWN National Database and Communication System
March 2011
1. / Overview1.1
1.2
1.3 / From the findings of the Tribal feasibility study into a Single National Communication System, it was decided by ACPO in June 2010, that procuring a Single National Communication System could not be justified in line with spending cuts within the police service at the time.
NHWN decided that it would be worthwhile to explore the potential for the Network to develop a Database and Communication System. A panel of members and staff invited four companies to present an overview of their systems and how this could be translated across England and Wales.
On the 14th September 2010, the NHWN Trustee Board ratified the recommendations made by a panel of members, to sign up to a five year information provider and portal licence for NHWN and its members to use Neighbourhood Alert system across England and Wales.
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6 / The licence was agreed on the proviso that Alert will be the only message broadcast system used by NHWN for the communication with NHW members (other than Microsoft Outlook for day to day member communication).
The licence covers the use for all NHW members to use Alert for free but other partners including individual police forces, need to sign their own information provider and portal licence for a fee.
The financial cost to NHWN is £2,000 per annum for the licence and a £500 one off set up fee, which runs concurrently for the five year agreement. The licence covers the cost of messages sent via email, with voice and text messages available at an additional cost.
VISAV is the company who has developed and owns the Intellectual Property rights for Neighbourhood Alert.
VISAV and NHWN are committed for the Alert system to be used with other community messaging systems rather than NHWN to adopt a SINGLE national communication system.
Relationship with Our Watch website
The Alert system can be broken down into a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) system or in other terms a secure database, along with a community messaging system. Both of these tools have been integrated into the website.
To provide some level of security for the new branded resources, a secure members log in area has been created on the website. To gain access to the branded resources co-ordinators must log in by entering their contact details. This data is securely held by VISAV.
One of the main benefits of the Alert system is that the end user (member or co-ordinator) is in complete control of their data and what services and tools they wish to use. End users can opt out of receiving any messages completely or selecting who they wish to receive messages from, as well as message types.
Part of the registration process for coordinators is to register their scheme. This information is uploaded to Electric Putty who has designed the website with a scheme search function as one of its key tools and resources. Co-ordinators can opt out of having their scheme mapped on the website for various reasons including the need to remain a covert scheme particularly in high crime rate areas.
The website has many other tools such as ‘find a scheme’, ‘contact my coordinator’ and ‘join a scheme’ which needs a central database to signpost and refers members of the public onto the correct person to deal with the enquiry.
The purpose of the new website is to be more accessible, attractive and interactive for existing members but also to engage with a wider and diverse audience to ensure that the movement is sustainable and maintains growth.
3 / Principles for Integration with other Community Messaging Systems
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
3.11
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
4.11 / Developing a central database is central to the sustainability and future for the movement, which will allow resources to be proportionally sought and distributed, engagement with a wider audience in line with 2.6, and in the long term a more coordinated national communication process with members and partnering organisations throughout England and Wales.
The majority of enquires which come into NHWN is members of the public asking if there is a NHW scheme in their area, and if so who is the coordinator. At the moment NHWN staff forward the enquiry onto the NHWN Regional Representative or SPOC who can then either look on their local database of scheme members (if they have one), or forward onto another local contact to look on their members database.
This process is time consuming and can be frustrating for the enquirer if they have to speak to at least two different people who may or may not be available when they call. This process can take days or sometimes weeks to process and resolve.
Communities are more mobile and work longer than ever before and expect to find local and national information by using internet search engines. The research undertaken by Live/works and Spencer du Bois initiated by the Home Office as part of the Designing Out Crime Project by the Design Council, highlights that many non-members do not know if there is a scheme in their area, or they see that there are signs up and stickers in windows but do not know who their coordinator is.
We can conclude from the research that a lack of coordinated marketing and profile rising on how to join or create a scheme has become a barrier to membership at a local level. By creating a national database, rising the NHW profile and promoting the movement at all levels with members of the public and partners, the message of the benefits of membership and how to be involved is raised at national, regional and local levels.
As each police service has the autonomy under the command of the Chief Constable, each force area (43 in total) in theory supports NHW in 43 different ways.
This includes support given to NHW by civilian staff, police officers, availability of office space and equipment, funding for marketing materials and how the police send messages to the public (community messaging).
The dynamics of partnership working and/or support for NHW members and co-ordinators varies greatly across England and Wales. The same applies at local area level with differing NHW membership databases and community messaging systems.
The variances between police support capacity and support from the police is undergoing considerable change due to funding pressures and cuts which in turn have driven some force areas to reduce the support and/or assistance to NHW within their area. This could potentially leave some NHW organisations in a vulnerable position with reducing support and limited tools or experience to plug any gaps.
NHWN aims to support grassroots members who find themselves and their schemes in this position by providing an independent and secure database and communication system they can use for free. This system does not aim to ‘break away’ from the valuable support and expertise given by the police, but to continue to develop the essential partnership.
Other partners such as ‘Safe Return Project’ (Alzheimer’s) have signed an Information Providers licence to be part and contribute to the database and communication system. The ethos being that members can opt in or out of receiving messages from all or any of our partners. Smaller community groups can also sign up for a ‘skin’ which gives the group a website framework that can be designed with their visual identity. It uses tools already in place as well as the benefits of the sites ‘Google’ rating to help raise their profile.
Taking this Forward
In order to accommodate the diversity of community messaging systems being used across England and Wales by both NHW and the police, NHWN needs to be able to integrate member scheme data to allow the points 3.1 to 3.11 to be realised and delivered.
This in itself has numerous complex issues. These include allowing the regions time, capacity and opportunity to take ownership of the system. To allow force areas to buy in and develop the system for their own means. The overall ambition is for the system to be beneficial to force areas and to their grassroots members.
This can start be done in a number of ways including negotiating with each responsible lead for the force area database (if available) to copy scheme details over via csv. file which can be updated regularly to provide information for the ‘postcode scheme’ on the website.
There are matters consider including gaining permission from the members on the website that their information can be used for this purpose. There may be also problem regarding data sharing protocols as well as ‘corrupt’ or ‘out of date’ data.
Where an existing community messaging service is already in place, NHWN commits to not sending any direct messages out to the copied dataset. NHWN and partners messages to be sent to a lead officer for the force area, which can then if they so wish forward any messages on via the existing community messaging system.
To gain access to the ‘resource centre’ on the website, members have to be registered as a coordinator. A user name and password will have to be created for each coordinator wishing to access this data. This will have to be managed through the database with the message settings not ticked, but allowing each coordinator access if they so wish.
For force areas who wish to have just one single point of contact for the website, an email will be sent to them if there is a request to join a scheme or to send a message to a coordinator. This will be managed through the Alert system. If a force area has not nominated a webmaster or communications administrator then the request will go the regional webmaster or administrator. If a region has not nominated a webmaster or administrator then it will go to NHWN webmaster or administrator. The request will then be forwarded to known contacts within the NHWN structure.
As the website will be promoted and its profile raised through links to partners websites and national media campaigns, it is expected that members of the public will join through the url. The end user will be able to choose if they wish to join the database to receive messages from the Information Providers signed up in their area. Force areas that use a different community messaging system can have a link to this system on the regional page.
Volunteer role descriptions have been developed to help regions to recruit volunteers to undertake these roles. Training will take place in April and May 2011 with further training as necessary (depending on funding availability).
[Need to put something in about Information Commissioners guidelines for data protection for personal information.]
In line with the ICO guidance, volunteers and staff at regional level or above who have access to personal information should undertake a basic CRB check or a police check from their local force. NHWN will undertake any CRB requests and cover any associated costs. Volunteers or staff below regional level, should agree to a policy in line with ICO guidelines as well as any force or NHW association data protection policies or procedures.
Appendix B