Halton Region: Citizen-Centred Service Initiatives New Frontiers and Best Practices in Citizen-Centred Service IPAC/ICCS Symposium November 14, 2001 Halton Region: Citizen-Centred Service Initiatives New Frontiers and Best Practices in Citizen-Centred Service IPAC/ICCS Symposium November 14, 2001

Presentation Outline  Overview of Halton Region  Halton’s Partnership Experience  Examples of Single Point Access:  to targeted groups  across organizational boundaries

Halton Region  Regional Municipality located between Toronto and Hamilton  4 Area Municipalities (2 urban, 2 rural)  387,000 people  one of Canada’s fastest growing areas

Halton Region Services  Public Health (including ambulance)  Social and Community Services (children’s services, income & employment services, housing, seniors)  Waste management  Water and Wastewater  Regional roads & transportation  Planning services  Business Development Centre  Museum  Emergency Planning

Halton Partnerships  Halton has pursued partnerships internally among departments and with other organizations to deliver services more effectively to our citizens >25 years  Nature of 2-tier local government  Spirit of collaboration - alive and well in Halton

Examples of Halton Partnerships  Apprenticeship Advisory Council  Joint Purchasing Initiative  Business Development Centre  Resource Centres  Integrated Intake Services for Children and Families  Halton Government Access Centre

Halton Integrated Services  Service clusters around targeted groups:  small business entrepreneur  children and families  unemployed  Single entry point for services:  across departmental boundaries  across organizational boundaries

Business Development Centre  One-stop service for entrepreneurs  Comprehensive information and counselling services on starting a small business in Halton  Ontario Business Connects  Canada Ontario Business Service Centre

Integrated Intake Services  Centralized system of intake, information and referrals for children and families in Halton  Multi-disciplinary team - shared expertise (nursing, social work, early childhood educator professionals)  Operational efficiency (response time, duplication of effort, improved linkages)

Integrated Intake Services  Single point of access to various health and social service programs:  Healthy Babies, Healthy Children  Making Services Work for People  Child Health  Reproductive Health  Speech and Language  Children’s Assessment & Treatment Centre  Child care  Children’s Resource Services  Ontario Works

Further Integration Opportunities  Social Housing has been transferred from Province to Halton  Within 6 months will add housing information and referral

Resource Centres  Halton/HRDC share office space in 4 locations - one in each area municipality  Tri-level government arrangement in Burlington (Halton/HRDC/MCSS)  Formal partnership - 6 years  integrated income and employment services for the unemployed

Impetus for Change  Historic relationship with HRDC  Liaison meetings - client profile/needs  Some technology sharing and shred program delivery  Leases due  Senior Management desire for more synergistic co-location arrangement

Service Delivery Model  Coordinated delivery of employment services  One location: one-stop shopping for clients  Easy to get to: one in each area municipality

Service Delivery Model  One professional contact: one case manager (employment, social assistance, child care)  All necessary resources easily available  Remove embarrassing aura of social assistance office

New Partnership  In each office client can:  drop in to talk to professional staff  drop off and pick up documents  access computer tools, prepare resume, job search  attend workshops and training sessions  apply for employment insurance, Federal income programs  meet with a child care staff

How Have Employment Services Changed?  More services, more accessible, more often  One customer counter in all locations  Staff more aware of tools and how they are used - Regional and Federal staff rotate provision of assistance to anyone in office  Less frustrated clients

Customer Feedback  Halton part of Government Single Window Services Survey sponsored by IPAC  preliminary findings - 88% satisfied with service they received (Business Development Centre, Resource Centres)

Halton Single Window  Primarily in service delivery business  45,000 inquiries/month about regional services  number of calls about area municipal, provincial and federal services  worked with area municipalities to analyse misdirected calls - 14,000/year

A Changing Environment  Provincial shift in service delivery responsibilities to Regions  Local Government Reform in Ontario  Federal and Ontario initiatives  Citizen expectations - 79% believe we should make all government services available in same office

Halton Single-Window  Halton developed proposal for seamless access to local government services in Halton in 1999  approved by 5 CAOs and endorsed “in principle” by 5 Municipal Councils  developed basic telephone linkage - May 2000

Halton Single-Window  Timing issues  Halton moving forward alone:  ensure own house is in order  ensure compatible technology for future initiative with area municipalities  pursuing partnerships with Federal and Provincial Governments

Halton Government Access Centre  Concept:  basic facts and information  all 3 levels of government  convenient and seamless for citizens  Comprehensive internal review  Customer Service Strategy

Customer Service Strategy  All program areas included  New tools, processes, practices  3-year timeframe  Centralized customer service function by January 2004  One-stop shopping for all Regional government services and information

Provincial Links  Provincial funding to establish Government Information Centre in Halton Regional Centre  hard copy of database  document dissemination  future initiatives to improve ease of access

Federal Links  Waiting for Cabinet approval to establish Service Canada Centre at Halton Regional Centre  Received access to Government of Canada database  Halton staff completed training - can navigate through database  disseminating federal documents

Forecast for the Future in Halton  We are persistent  We believe it is the right thing to do - recent survey results  Know we will succeed and hope our partners will join us in the future to truly develop one-window to all government services in Halton