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Thinking outside the [Primary Support Reason] box
Data loves a binary but as any social worker would I’m sure tell you - people don’t fit neatly into boxes! For much of our analysis there is a need to segment individuals into various groups, whether its budget code, …
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Keeping Cool Throughout the Project Lifecycle
As we approach another week of high temperatures how do you go about starting well to ensure you remain as cool and prepared as possible and what does it have to do with a data and analytics project lifecycle…. What …
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How joining the LocalGov Drupal collaboration is enabling us to deliver digital services for Essex residents
Dating back as far as the first “Hello, world!” was published on the internet, there’s been a driver for all organisations with a web presence to meet ever developing standards in line with what users of today expect and what …
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Forecasting adult social care demand to prepare for the future
It’s often the case when we are busy, that we don’t take the time to reflect on or celebrate our successes. I am therefore enthusiastic to be taking the opportunity to do just that in this blog, sharing our methods …
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Capturing golden nuggets through immersive research
Did you know that the average household throws away £60 worth of food every month? Or that recycling one banana peel can generate enough energy to charge two mobile phones? Food waste is a big problem for the planet, for Essex, and for our residents. To help inform a county-wide campaign, we set out to explore behaviours around food waste using an online research community approach.
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Understanding Universal Credit Recipients
We recently began analysing Universal Credit claimant levels to support the Skills and Employability team to better understand why, despite record low unemployment, Universal Credit (UC) claimant numbers had barely decreased from their March 2021 peak[1]. [2]. Once we started …
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It started with (the absence of) a SEND forecast….
We’ve never had the ability to place plan in SEND, now we can build new schools based on growth and needs forecasts, Ralph Holloway, Head of SEND Strategy and Innovation, ECC What started as a conversation two years ago about …
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Harnessing collective insight to tackle complexity
As the idiom purports the certainty of 'death and taxes', two others, it could be argued, follow on closely behind these days: digitalisation and complexity. It could also be said that our health, individually and collectively, impacts and is impacted …
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Salute our Forces this Armed Forces Day
ECC's Armed Forces Champion, Cllr Derrick Louis reflects on his own time in the Army as Armed Forces day approaches.
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It’s fun to go to the J-S-N-A!
Essex County Council, in collaboration with health partners, has a duty to undertake an assessment of the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the county’s communities on a regular basis. This process is referred to as the Joint …
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University Challenge comes to Essex County Council
Every year, our Analytics and Data Science team joins up with the University of Essex for our annual University Challenge Project. Despite what the name infers, this isn’t a remake of the popular TV quiz show hosted by Jeremy Paxman, …
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Employment experiences for people with learning disabilities and autism
We commissioned Revealing Reality to conduct a research project during the summer of 2021 to explore the needs, motivations, and barriers to successful employment for people with learning disabilities and autism in Essex.
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SEND Local Offer - Week Notes
Following on from a 12 week discovery last year, we are now working towards a new website to make sure the Local Offer website provides what young people and their families in Essex need.
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Designing an accessible intranet
Working with users from the get go Helen, Caroline and Hannah show us how they are collaborating in designing our intranet with accessibility at the forefront.
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A SHoKE to the system – How students are bringing different thinking to ECC
Collaborating with partners offers us fresh thinking and a new lens to reconsider and reframe the challenges we face, and the services we provide to support the citizens of Essex. Our recent partnership with Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) has enabled …
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Nice content you’ve got there. Would be a shame if I were to… audit it!
James Green shares with us the the importance of content audits and how with ‘keep, cut, improve’, you can really shape a meaningful user content
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Facing up to fuel poverty
Volatile energy markets. Fuel poverty crisis. The headlines are grim: Global shortage of gas has forced an increase on the price cap on energy bills Households will see costs increase by an estimated 52% UK and European sanctions will ban …
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Considering a career in Data and Analytics? You’ve come to the right place!
If you had asked me 10 years ago whether I would have consider pursuing a career in data and analytics I would have said no way! Actually, if I’m being entirely honest, I wouldn’t have even acknowledged your question, I …
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Website Capability - Iterating the technology that powers our websites
Ben Unsworth, Director of Service Transformation here at Essex County Council, dives into how we are tackling the iteration of the technology that powers our websites, starting with essex.gov.uk.
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What are we talking about? The Golden Bloggies
"What are you talking about" is a question I often get asked. Well as this is the 100th post on our Insight blog I figured I would give a bit of an overview of exactly that, and also reflect back …
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We all have a responsibility to bring about change
Cllr McKinlay shares her thoughts on the Government's new campaign that aims to tackle violence against women and girls.
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National Day of Reflection - remembering those we have lost through the pandemic
Cllr John Spence reflects on the past two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Sharing our new user research templates and guides
Today we’re sharing the first of our new user research templates and guides. We designed these for teams working within the council, and they can easily be adapted for teams working in other councils. You’ll find these on GitHub. Download …
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When Deprivation Didn't Exist (feat. Complexity in Adult Social Care)
For those that remember the 90s they’ll remember it fondly. Footballs Coming Home, Things Can Only Get Better, I’ll Be There For You (cos you’re there for me too), Slam Your Body Down and Zig-a-Zig-Ah. This was also the last …
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Data is everyone's business
2022 promises to be exciting, because it’s all about our Data Strategy jumping off the page and into action
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How do we make a safe space for constructive feedback?
James Green a Content Designer in Service Transformation, shares how he made it possible to make it a safe space for implementing feedback sessions across the team.
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A year in Open Data
Happy Open Data Day!! OK, I’m early, the big day isn’t until Saturday 5 March but we wanted you to have time to get your party hats, balloons and cakes all ready for the weekend (if you needed an excuse …
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Adventures in Digital Ethnography
Three intrepid researchers deliver ECC’s first in-house digital ethnography. It’s been a daring adventure and a leap of faith for us to combine an online tool (Incling) with research skills, for a project about mental health support.
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Save money, time and effort buying solar panels with Solar Together
Climate Czar, Cllr Peter Schwier advises how to get high-quality solar panels and battery storage at affordable prices.
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Team shout-outs: celebrating a great start to the year together
We’ve had a month of settling into 2022 so I thought I’d share how we’re making an effort to celebrate our work and each other more. One way we’re doing this is by asking the whole team to give a …
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What’s the deal with Digital Accessibility?
Sharing how digital accessibility is for everyone, Phil Henderson navigates us through why we should all digital interactions work for us all us.
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Conducting a card sort remotely using Miro
What is a card sort? Card sorts are a generative research technique we use in early-stage user research. We give participants a selection of pages from a website and ask them to organise the information into groups that make sense …
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But first, let’s draft it
Writing anything can be daunting. You don’t want to write something ridiculous or unusable, and you definitely don’t want to look silly in front of your co-workers. You might want to write the perfect piece first time, but that might …
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Influencing hearts and minds through research
Recently we completed a research project with survivors of domestic abuse, and wanted to share a bit about how we did it and why it was so important to us that this research has an impact. We engaged with survivors of domestic abuse over a period of several months, to explore how they want to share their views, provide feedback and be involved in decision-making, in a way that is best for them.
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Why my new role at Essex County Council ticks all the boxes
We’ve had a few new faces join the Communications and Marketing department lately and it’s been really exciting to welcome new talent to the team. We sat down for a cup of tea (on Teams) with Jessica Riley, Campaigns Advisor, …
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Testing assumptions with real people
Testing assumptions and learning that its ok to get things wrong early. See how Service Transformation found that testing does not require huge amounts of effort or time.
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Getting back out there…doing research while masked up
This week our team visited a high school in Essex to talk to sixth formers about their experiences of Covid-19 in terms of the impact to their mental health, relationships, education and future opportunities. Updated guidance meant that all pupils were now expected to wear face masks in classrooms, so this went for us researchers too...
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A resident’s perspective on the Data Ethics Committee
As a newcomer to the Data Ethics Committee (DEC), I was unsure what to expect from my first meeting. From being a teacher, through to becoming a head teacher, and ultimately to working as an Essex School Advisor I have …
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Intranet Alpha
Welcome to the new year! The mornings might still be dark, but we’re excited to bring a little light to your life with our work that Essex County Council (ECC) are doing in partnership with Futuregov to design an open …
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My quickfire predictions for 2022
In my last blog post of 2021, I shared my learnings for the year and promised some predictions for the year ahead. Here's what I think 2022 holds for communications and marketing in local government. 1. We will become more …