Communication & Information Governance Team

What can the CFE Communication & Information Governance Team (CIGT) do for you?
We provide advice and support to Children, Families & Education (CFE) on all aspects of internal and external communication as well as compliance with Freedom of Information and Data Protection law.

Visit our Communication Strategy, or find out more about what we offer.

Why use us? Your communication professionals:

• Know the business
• Know the customers
• Know Kent
• Know the communication industry – press and print
• Know KCC policy and regulations
• Have marketing & promotion skills based on experience not just qualifications
• Can select appropriate channels and manage them realistically
• Write Plain English and good wording / content
• Know how to brief a graphic designer and specify publication layout
• Recognise what is affordable , achievable and realistic

Few external agency staff combine all those skills in one place, nor are they likely to have the internal knowledge of KCC's policy & customers and understand the the scale of KCC's operation. Partnerships are often used as an excuse for going to the private sector. In fact, our KCC communications staff are adept at managing those relationships too and are aware of the pressures felt by organisations when faced with KCC's size and the resources it brings to the table.

We have those wide dimensions and experience and when we don't have the skills in-house we can procure them economically for you. Whether by working with Corporate Communications or the other professionals in the wider KCC team , County Print & Design or external suppliers we know and trust.

Our experience of writing for print and the web makes us appreciate the difference when writing for on screen reading . We are aware of the technical requirements and the governance issues associated with new media publishing.

We have end-to-end project management experience handling things as diverse as IiP, the KCC charter campaigns, analysis of surveys, planned pan Kent public campaigns and emergencies. We are the communications experts you seek !

Whatever your communication needs, we can ensure that you take advantage of the most appropriate channel and meet the relevant national and KCC standards.

Talk to us sooner rather than later.

We manage:

• the Directorate’s use of KCC’s global email system. Handling requests for distribution lists and generic email addresses and supporting urgent email communications to schools.
• Our dedicated extranet, Kent Trust Web, supports school / Local Authority communications with a weekly CFE E-Bulletin which generates an average of 29,000 page views each Tuesday.
• the KCC public website www.kent.gov.uk
• CFE on KNet (our staff intranet)

What skills & resources can we offer?

• Advice on choosing a communication channel ( see our Channels pages )
• We can set up individual Team & Unit websites as well as partnership-based themed areas e.g. Healthy Schools. We also offer Web 2.0 applications like blogs and discussion forums for you to communicate with your customers interactively
• We can advise on and support the development of custom-built web applications
• We can support you in the use of Plain English, Writing for the Web, designing your Information Architecture ( page structure ) and compliance with the accessibility, data protection and copyright legislation
• Finding the right picture: Although CFE has no image bank of permissioned images for use on the web or in publications, we do have access to online image resources that provide such services.
• Data Protection (DP) Act 1998 / Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000: We provide advice, guidance and training on the requirements of Data Protection and Freedom of Information and the responsibilities of staff.
• Online surveys and forms: We can create online surveys to your requirements.
• Video, DVD & CD:  If you have a need for this technology, please let us know what your requirements are.
• We can support print publication when appropriate. This includes liaison with County Print & Design and other suppliers and advice about electronic versions of printed material.
• We can provide bespoke training for teams, clusters or individuals to support communication and compliance with the relevant DP /FOI requirements.

If you have any enquiries, please call 01622 221201 or e-mail communicationcfe@kent.gov.uk.