Diagnostic Pathway

The Diagnostic Pathway is in nearing the final stages of the project before entering the design phase. The last deliverable of the Final Report and Business Cases is due on Friday 29th August. The Gap Analysis has shown potential for joint working between Local Authorities, and the IS will commence facilittating collaborative working sessions for councils throughout September.

Recruitment portal for local authorities online

The National Recruitment Portal for Scottish local authorities has now grown to 16 councils participating in the initial two phases of implementation.

Myjobscotland.gov.uk will allow participating authorities to advertise vacancies and search for candidates across Scotland. Each council also has a dedicated mini-site where it can publish additional information for candidates, such as council and local area profiles.

Key benefits provided by the portal include:

• a single source for council job adverts to improve the candidate experience;
• reducing the cost of recruiting for councils;
• accessing a wider pool of applicants;
• the promotion of local government as an exciting dynamic career option;

The portal will also enable Scottish local authorities to improve the efficiency and productivity of the recruitment process.

The 16 Councils currently live on myjobscotland.gov.uk include

• Clackmannanshire
• Inverclyde
• Moray
• North Ayrshire
• North Lanarkshire
• Orkney
• South Ayrshire
• Stirling
• Falkirk
• Angus
• Midlothian
• East Dunbartonshire
• Perth & Kinross
• Renfrewshire
• Conmairle nan Eilean Siar
• West Dunbartonshire

It is anticipated that all Scottish local authorities will be online by Autumn 2008.

Public Information Notices Portal

The project is building a website that will enable councils to provide local statutory and public information notices regarding services such as licensing, planning, roads and other general notices in a clear and easy to use format. The benefits case is underpinned by the need to reduce advertising expenditure and improve efficiency and productivity.

The PINs portal has three main aims:

• To provide public notice information in a more accessible and useful way
• To make PINs easier for the public to understand and act on
• To improve the impact of how we spend money on advertising and reduce local government spend on PIN advertising.

Status Update

• PINs Web Portal base development completed.
• A usability evaluation by Bunnyfoot has been completed and recommended changes have been applied.
• The council end user Administration site has been created and is ready for process integration development.
• ANITE and UNIform integration work has started and has a 10 to 12 week lead-time for completion.
• Five councils pilot councils agreed; Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, South Lanarkshire and Inverclyde.
• URL's for accessing the demo site have been provided to the Project Board and Pilot Councils and access testing is being carried out.
• Weekly newsletters are now being sent out to all 32 councils, to heighten the awareness of the project and to progress key activities that need to be addressed across all councils.
• Public notice questionnaires have been issued via the newsletters to all 32 councils contacts for completion and is key to the analysis of systems and processes the council are currently using.
• Process mapping currently being reviewed.