Local government
Good public services connect with citizens, but local authorities are also under pressure to deliver these services with increasing speed and efficiency. From delivering award-winning e-government services to managing HR and payroll, our work gives local authorities the space to innovate and improve the delivery of services to the benefit of both their citizens and employees.
Police and criminal justice agencies
Citizens not only want local police to prevent and reduce crime. They need reassurance from the police that they are safe in their communities. This means tackling citizen concerns and having enough time to do it. We work with the police to replace anachronistic information systems, freeing up officers' time to forge quality relationships with the community. Police are able to monitor, predict, prevent and tackle crime more efficiently through the use of our technology.
Fire and emergency services
Responsive emergency services are at the heart of citizens' needs. We work with the police, fire and ambulance services to reassure local people through improving response times, coordinating services and educating people to prevent emergencies where possible.
Central government
Government has learnt lessons from a number of high-profile IT project failures. We work with a number of central government departments and executive agencies, developing new and innovative ways of working in support of policy implementation.
Health services
Government has prioritised patient-centred services as part of a far-reaching process of NHS reform. We work with the Department of Health, the Healthcare Commission and a number of local health trusts, helping them to review and to improve their performance.
Not for profit sector
Voluntary and community-based organisations often reach out to those citizens that public authorities are unable to. Many organisations are harnessing the benefits of technology, but often some of the most pioneering and smaller projects lack the resources. We are actively campaigning to reduce this digital divide. We work with a number of charities, helping them to realise their social objectives by reducing their administrative burden.
Multi-agency services
Multi-agency working creates challenges for all public sector bodies used to working in ‘silos’. It requires new forms of leadership and new methods of working within and between public sector bodies.
Joining up public services is critical to delivering modernised services based on best value and which meet the changing expectations of citizens for ‘whole’ services based on personal circumstances.
Northgate works with local authorities, the police, fire and rescue services and the not-for-profit sector to promote multi-agency working and bring services closer to communities through providing consultancy, citizen-relationship management systems and managed services.
Citizen-centred services
There is no one-size fits all approach to public service delivery. As society has changed, people’s expectations have changed. Where once standardised public services met public need, now citizens increasingly expect services which are seamless and tailored to meet personal need. For too long, services have been demand-led and departmentalised.
We assist local authorities, the police and the emergency services to raise local standards by helping them provide citizens with accessible and responsive one-stop services. We are the leading provider of citizen relationship management services to local authorities.
Enforcement services
Community well-being depends on both education and enforcement. In the past, all too often high-volume, low-level criminal offences and social and environmental nuisance were not tackled because hard-pressed enforcement bodies simply did not have the time.
Used effectively, penalty notices can assist in preventing low-level crime and civil infringements. They help free up the police to focus on serious crime and provide public sector bodies with an additional tool to promote regulatory compliance.
We help public sector bodies reduce the paper work and time spent on administration. We are the government’s chosen provider of penalty notice enforcement systems for anti-social behaviour to the police; the UK’s leading provider of vehicle penalty and fixed penalty enforcement systems; and the supplier of enforcement systems for London’s congestion charging scheme.
Non-specialist advisory services
The law is complex but specialist advisers often spend too much time working on standard cases, leaving them too little time to focus on individuals with greatest need. Well-managed benefits services connect with the citizen. They get closer to their communities by dealing with individual need. And wherever possible they provide them with one-stop, simplified services, giving citizens the confidence that their problems can be dealt with at the right time, first time, every time.
Using highly sophisticated ‘rules based’ technology, we help frontline staff working in one-stop shops, housing departments and within the voluntary sector to make their way through the benefits maze. This gives benefit managers more freedom to manage and specialist advisers more time to focus on those cases where help is needed most. Our technology is used by both the Australian and UK governments, local authorities, registered social landlords and the voluntary sector.
Organisational governance
To raise standards it is crucial that appropriate governance and performance measures are adopted which promote sustainable development, better performance, democratic structures and value for money.
Public services have multiple objectives including: delivering ethical, accountable and inclusive services; efficient outcomes; customer satisfaction; and legitimacy and trust. If public services are to be trusted, they must be accountable. Private public service providers need to understand how such services differ from private services in order to add to the public value.
Northgate’s consultancy services are working with central and local government to help build public value and enhanced performance through information management, performance measurement, business process reengineering and risk management techniques. Our management information systems, geographical information systems and intelligence systems are used by central government, the police, health and emergency services.
Predictive services
Criminal justice and public safety bodies such as the police and the fire and rescue services are under increased pressure to deliver preventative and proactive strategies.
The effective management of resources can be radically improved by predictive services which allow managers to place resources closer to the point of need. Proactive government actively engages in developing and planning whole life services and takes measures to prevent harm to the community through risk management and predictive analysis.
Northgate’s predictive services are used by central government and local public services to deliver pioneering projects across the country. These include:
- working to assist vulnerable children through information sharing and assessment programmes (ISAs)
- working towards integrated services for vulnerable people
- helping to prevent deafness through the early screening of babies
- working with fire and rescue services to provide more responsive services
- protecting the public through enhanced information sharing and risk management
Managed services
In a changing world, public services are under increasing pressure to deliver services which are responsive to citizens’ individual needs. All too often organisations find themselves distracted by matters of internal administration such as information technology. These can take them away from their key priority and core business of providing efficient and effective services to citizens.
With Northgate’s managed services, organisations can focus on what they do best – delivering responsive services to citizens.
Northgate’s managed and hosted services are flexible and scaleable, and designed to meet organisational need and keep pace with change. Our managed services are used throughout the country by local government, police authorities, health trusts and membership organisations, helping organisations manage the change whilst Northgate manages the technology.
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Our task is to enhance public sector value through the intelligent use of information technology and to share the economic and social benefits that this brings. We want to see the full potential of new technology realised so that it serves people by tackling deep-rooted social problems and promoting community well-being and justice.
