How The Knowledge Hub (Online community platform) helps local government professionals to connect and learn from each other. Real stories from the members

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How Knowledge Hub helps local government
professionals to connect and learn from each other
The benefits of sharing online

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“Knowledge Hub is thought-
provoking and creates new ideas
by sharing with different people,
with different thoughts”.
Introduction
Knowledge Hub is the Local Government Association's professional network which helps
people in local government connect and share online in a secure environment.
This is a collection of stories from a variety of regular
Knowledge Hub users who work in councils. It
describes their experiences of using Knowledge Hub
and how their membership has led to a number of
benefits to their work and their organisation.
Host to more than 1,700 community groups covering a vast range of local government topics,
Knowledge Hub connects thousands of councils, police authorities, fire authorities, central
government, NHS, voluntary sector and private sector colleagues in sharing what they know to
improve local government.
Knowledge Hub uses professional networking tools to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and
expertise across local government to support councils in learning from each other. By becoming
a member of relevant groups and making personal connections with peers, Knowledge Hub
helps its members to find, share and discuss information that is relevant to them and their work.

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Contents
1. Directly representing the views of the sector
Alistair Townsend, Milton Keynes Council
2. A richer knowledge sharing conversation
Heidi de Wolf, Lincolnshire County Council
3. Connecting troubled families coordinators nationally
James Hill, Portsmouth County Council
4. Seeking professional opinions
Kate Holme, Hampshire County Council
5. Saving time and money
Kieran Fitzsimmons, Bassetlaw District Council
6. It helps to talk
Michael Gray, Royal Borough Kensington and Chelsea
7. Knowledge is power – when it’s shared by experts
Nicola Underdown, Leicestershire County Council
8. A problem shared is a problem halved
Paul Ambrose, Bournemouth Council
9. Finding the right people is easier now
Peter Hall, Southend-On-Sea Borough Council
10. Building expertise through sharing specialist knowledge
Riley Marsden, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
11. Creating a brand through professional e-networking
Sarah Coupe, Charnwood Borough Council
12. An instant resource to pool our resources
Sue Dickinson, Bury Council
13. Smarter and faster working
John Scott, Three Rivers District Council

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“It saves considerable amounts of
resource as it stops others in the public
sector having to reinvent the wheel
without realising”.
“LACEF and the Knowledge Hub allows
for the benefits of a local service with the
advantages of much wider expertise
available”.
1. Directly representing the views of the sector
Alistair Townsend, Milton Keynes Council
Revenue and Benefits Service Delivery
Manager at Milton Keynes Council, Alistair
Townsend, is a member of the Local
Authority Civil Enforcement Forum (LACEF)
group on Knowledge Hub.
He finds the forum and library most useful.
“It is a great way to share knowledge and to
understand whether colleagues in other
authorities are experiencing the same
issues. It saves considerable amounts of
resource as it stops others in the public
sector having to reinvent the wheel without
realising. Someone, somewhere in a similar
position will have faced the same issue at
some time and the emails ask everyone the
question at the same time”.
Alistair describes Knowledge Hub as “a
platform to share best practice” and says
“very often I find that even if I haven’t got
involved in a discussion at the time, the
information exchange is useful at a later
date”.
Alistair has benefitted most from making
connections, exchanging ideas and sharing
information. “There are over 300 billing
authorities individually administering and
collecting council tax and business rates
and other debts. LACEF and the Knowledge
Hub allows for the benefits of a local service
with the advantages of much wider expertise
available”.
For Alistair, there are many areas where
information from LACEF has led to work
problems being solved. “The field within
which we all work is heavily based in
legislation and case law. There are
numerous examples where members have
been able to supply case details which
assist in legislative determinations. Equally,
there are many new initiatives that have
been considered and being able to ask the
community whether they have tried it before
and what the issues to guard against could
be”.
“A real example of how the Knowledge Hub
has assisted would be in relation to the
Ministry of Justice’s review of bailiff law.
LACEF is represented on a Working Group
established by the MOJ to assist in the
creation of the legislation. Being able to
accurately reflect the views of the widest
number of billing authorities in this process
is very important and the Knowledge Hub
has enabled us to directly consult with
members, meaning that we have been able
to be far more directly representative than
we would otherwise have been”.
LACEF is mainly aimed at promoting good
practice in local authority enforcement.
“Over the years, many practices have been
changed as a result of discussions on the
forum and considerable costs saved by
receiving advice”.

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“Having the opportunity to ask someone
something outside of your organisation
is powerful.”
“Without Knowledge Hub we wouldn’t
have the luxury of people’s knowledge
behind the data. It provides context…”
2. A richer knowledge sharing conversation
Heidi de Wolf, Lincolnshire County Council
Heidi de Wolf, Senior Organisational
Development Manager at Lincolnshire
County Council has experienced many
benefits as a Knowledge Hub user.
Of key importance for her is networking with
different people. She finds making
connections with them very useful, and says
“having the opportunity to ask someone
something outside your organisation is
powerful. It allows people to collaborate on
issues that can change the world”.
For example, when Heidi’s colleague
connected with another user in Edinburgh
around talent management, discussions led
to an email exchange and then a telephone
call, which made it a “richer knowledge
sharing conversation”.
Heidi herself connected with a user in
Aberdeen and commented on a blog post
they had written. Now they regularly connect
on topics of interest. “You can connect with
people who share your views or challenge
them”. They now connect on LinkedIn too.
Heidi likes to filter useful information and
regularly amends her notification settings
according to her current work priorities. “Not
all of it will be relevant at the time, but you
can always access it later. When you see
something you like, you can share or
comment straight away and search for more
details later on. It’s on demand – access it
as and when you need it.”
She also enjoys how Knowledge Hub is
“thought-provoking and creates new ideas
by sharing with different people, with
different thoughts”.
Heidi often uses Knowledge Hub to access
government papers others have published,
“People find things in other areas and pull
them together for you. People curate stuff
for you so it’s easier to find things relevant
to your job area”.
Heidi believes Knowledge Hub presents a
number of opportunities, such as increased
networking, diversity of thought, and
learning from other people’s strengths and
lessons learnt. She says interest is “virally
growing” at Lincolnshire.
Heidi welcomes the fact that Knowledge
Hub is open to everyone, but appreciates
some people’s nervousness can be a barrier
to sharing online. “What makes it powerful is
people can contribute freely.” She likes the
self-monitoring aspect, “your name and
photo is displayed next to all materials you
contribute”.
“Without Knowledge Hub we wouldn’t have
the luxury of people’s knowledge behind the
data. It provides context to the topics of
interest”.

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“…a dynamic way of staying in touch with
wider thinking and practice nationally.”
“I have been steered in the right direction
rather than reinventing the wheel.”
3. Connecting troubled families coordinators nationally
James Hill, Portsmouth County Council
James Hill, Troubled Families Coordinator at
Portsmouth County Council is a member of
the Supporting Troubled Families group.
DCLG promoted this group as a tool for
council officers working on the troubled
families programme to share information.
James uses the forum regularly to join in
discussions and receives the email
notifications which he finds very helpful and
says, “I can quickly glance at new updates
and what I need to focus on”.
What James finds most beneficial is how he
can use Knowledge Hub as a networking
tool. “I now have access to all the troubled
families coordinators nationally. It’s brilliant!”
He found it particularly helpful when he was
new in post around the same time as the
programme started. “Everyone was
experiencing the same challenges and
having a forum to ask questions is really
good. DCLG who sponsor the programme
also use the group to signpost information
and guidance. They post presentations and
useful documents from meetings with
coordinators.”
There are a number of examples where
Knowledge Hub has helped James in his
role. Saving time is a recurring theme. “On a
few occasions where I have posted a
question and people have answered it, I
have been steered in the right direction
rather than reinventing the wheel.”
James’ role is a focussed one with a
specialist piece of work and sharing
knowledge and information has provided
him with real efficiencies. He says he finds it
helpful when he “notices someone else has
posted good nuggets of practice”.
James describes how his membership of the
troubled families group has helped him in
his role, saying “it has improved my
knowledge of the agenda I’m working on”.
James is one of 152 troubled families
coordinators nationally. He says his
membership has “improved my contacts
with the wider peer groups. It’s good when
you come together and meet people you’ve
been conversing with through Knowledge
Hub”.
James values his membership to the
troubled families group and recognises how
useful Knowledge Hub can be for other
areas of work too. “Now I know it exists and
how useful it’s been for me in this role, I may
use it more expansively in my substantive
role and explore it in more detail in the
future”.
James says Knowledge Hub is “extremely
useful for sharing information and resolving
problems across the wider community”. For
him it “continues to be a really dynamic way
of staying in touch with wider thinking and
practice nationally”.

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“It’s easier to put something on
Knowledge Hub than having to think
about who to email.”
4. Seeking professional opinions
Kate Holme, Hampshire County Council
Kate Holme, Trading Standards Officer at
Hampshire County Council joined
Knowledge Hub through some LGA
Regulation work she was involved in, and
describes Knowledge Hub as a “secure
website to seek professional opinions”.
Kate uses it for guidance and information,
but mainly because it allows her to get
different opinions on a various topics. “I use
it because when someone asks me a
specific labelling question, I know what I
think, but it’s better to get a wider view. I’ll
ask others for their opinion before getting
back to the person with the question. One
opinion is good but it’s nice to have it
confirmed.”
Kate tends to use the forums mostly and
finds the activity here most helpful. As a
member of a few groups related to her role,
there can be a number of discussions of
interest at any one time.
Kate gains most benefit from the way
Knowledge Hub provides responses at
speed and with ease. “It’s easier to put
something on Knowledge Hub than having
to think about who to email. The people who
tend to respond are usually people I know,
but it’s easier and quicker this way.”
Kate also values the occasions when she
receives responses from people she doesn’t
know. “I can get views from people I don’t
know and the average person in the street’s
view as well. Your opinion can hold more
weight if you have asked other people their
opinions too. It’s useful to get a second
opinion on legislation.”
An example of how being a member of a
Knowledge Hub group has helped Kate is
when a local business asked her a question
relating to the recent horsemeat scandal
and labelling rules. They were querying
whether a product from Northern Ireland
could be described as British on its food
label. “I received quite a few responses
including a view from a trading standards
officer in North Yorkshire who had asked the
same question and had an answer from a
DEFRA lawyer. The responses also
included links to additional information and
guidance notes.”
Knowledge Hub has really helped Kate in
getting others to share their opinions.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to get answers from
government departments.” Kate describes
an example when a contact of hers at the
Department of Health posted an answer to a
question which she had previously asked
them, when someone else had asked the
same question. Kate was pleased that they
had read it too and that it helped to get
“background opinion from a department”.
Kate feels Knowledge Hub would be even
more useful if more people contributed to it.
“It’s only as good as the people who
contribute to it.”

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“Where in the past a supplier might have
charged half a day’s consultancy, the
Knowledge Hub can generate substantial
savings.”
“I added a question in the forum and
within 15 minutes five people
responded.”
5. Saving time and money
Kieran Fitzsimmons, Bassetlaw District Council
Kieran Fitzsimmons, Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) Development
Officer at Bassetlaw District Council joined
Knowledge Hub primarily to share
knowledge and experiences with others
doing in a similar role as him in other
councils.
Kieran uses certain software in his role and
knows that colleagues in other councils do
too, which means they are likely to face
similar support issues. Kieran says, “With
public sector budgets so stretched, the
Knowledge Hub delivers invaluable support
from other users. Where in the past a
supplier might have charged half a day’s
consultancy, the Knowledge Hub can
generate substantial savings”.
For Kieran, the forums are important
because he can get answers quickly. A lot of
the information he works with is operational,
so rather than going through a manual if he
has a GIS query, “someone in the
community group might have done it before
or know how to do it”.
One example is when Kieran had a query
about extracting data from a software
product. “I added a question in the forum
and within 15 minutes five people
responded. In less than a day the matter
was resolved.”
Another example of where Kieran has been
able to tap into the knowledge and expertise
of others through Knowledge Hub is when
he faced a coding problem with a system
they use. “After speaking to people who
have done it before, with their detailed
guidance we can now do it in our council.
Lots of people sent screen shots of how
they did it and I talked to them on the phone.
This was an innovation for our organisation.”
Kieran appreciates the value of knowledge
sharing and says “there is no point in
spending days trying to figure something out
myself. It’s about sharing knowledge to
improve service delivery”.
Open data is a big topic in local government
now and Kieran says he “can see
Knowledge Hub as a conduit for that”. As a
small council, they are agile to change and
can see many opportunities for the future.
Kieran is keen to see where the
opportunities are for open data and
compliance.
Kieran says “Knowledge Hub is an
informative, collaborative, innovative,
knowledgeable and crucial resource” and
goes on to say, “As councils have less and
less money, a data knowledge portal is
invaluable”.

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“I got useful feedback, which I would not
have been able to source elsewhere.”
6. It helps to talk
Michael Gray, Royal Borough Kensington and Chelsea
Michael Gray, National Management
Trainee at Royal Borough Kensington and
Chelsea, joined Knowledge Hub on the
advice of colleagues through the National
Graduate Development Programme
(NGDP).
Michael joined his NGDP cohort group and
took it upon himself to become a facilitator,
learning the “nuts and bolts to develop a
practical and more technical skill of online
facilitation”.
The main benefit Michael has found is
“hearing about different people’s
experiences”. He adds that it provides him
with “candid information about what’s going
well and what’s not going well”. He
describes his group as a “helpful and
supportive online network”.
Michael finds the most useful Knowledge
Hub features are the forums, library, and
events. He says, “The library is a useful
repository and there is a lot of information of
real practical use”.
An example of how Knowledge Hub has
helped Michael’s group was when another
member from a different council added a
post about the difficulty they were
experiencing with their placement. They
were feeling quite demoralised and weren’t
sure what to do. Michael explains, “The post
received lots of responses about what
approach to take and who to speak to.
Sharing the experience, putting the question
out there, and getting the feedback really
helped”.
Michael found the Knowledge Hub helpful
when he was charged with procuring a
trainer for a project management course.
“As this course was relatively new, there
were hardly any reviews, which made it
difficult to know which training provider to
use. This is where Knowledge Hub proved
really helpful. By posting a question about
the course and particular training providers
in a project management practitioner group,
I was able to get some useful feedback,
which I would not have been able to source
elsewhere.”
Michael says, “Knowledge Hub is important
to me. We all have a laptop and can go and
sit anywhere, but that does not mean we get
to speak to the right people. It’s an extra
community online.
“There are a lot of weird and wonderful
groups out there. Sometimes you think
you’re on your own in your interests and
thoughts, but then you find a group which
has lots of people interested and talking
about it too. It’s about having that online
community to draw upon.”
Michael describes Knowledge Hub as a
place to “connect online with interesting
professionals”. He adds “Knowledge Hub
definitely has a social aspect to it, but it isn’t
like Facebook or Twitter. People seem to be
using it for the right reasons”.

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“…being able to engage with other
related groups is essential. We have a
voice we would not have had”.
“I can’t help, but I know someone who
can.”
7. Knowledge is power – when it’s shared by experts
Nicola Underdown, Leicestershire County Council
Nicola Underdown is the Improving
Information Sharing and Management
Exemplar Project Officer at Leicestershire
County Council. She is a member of several
Knowledge Hub groups, which she finds
useful for work-related areas and for
reflecting on personal views.
Nicola describes Knowledge Hub as
“Facebook for work!” She goes on to say it
is “part of a suite of tools we use to engage
with people”.
Nicola also facilitates two groups. As part of
the role, she checks her groups’ pages and
other relevant groups for new content and
information and cross-references them.
The key things Knowledge Hub has helped
Nicola do are “create a group membership
for work areas, use tags to pull in relevant
blogs for groups, and engage in discussion
in forum threads”.
Knowledge Hub has made a number of
differences to the way Nicola and her team
work, and the greatest impact has been the
way the team communicates. “As a small
team who are geographically dispersed,
being able to engage with other related
groups is essential. We have a voice we
would not have had”.
Live online discussions (‘hotseats’) have
been another great way for Nicola to get the
conversations flowing and pull out
information and knowledge. As a facilitator,
she might not always know the answers but
she says “being able to put people in touch
with each other is powerful. I can’t help, but I
know someone who can”.
Nicola finds the biggest challenges are
around quantifying the benefits and impact
of Knowledge Hub to others. People don’t
understand the amount of time and effort
required, or why it’s so important to get right
at the start.
Knowledge Hub brings a number of
opportunities too. The key one for Nicola is
connecting with a broad range of people and
their expertise. “Being able to tap into
experts’ knowledge is powerful”.
Often work and projects can be of a political
nature, which can mean layers of
bureaucracy and hierarchies. Knowledge
Hub gives Nicola direct access to a group of
people without having to go through these
layers and she finds this powerful too. If she
comes across a potential project barrier or
challenge, Nicola says that it’s good to be
able to say she’s already spoken to
someone else – an expert – and what their
response was.

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“It’s a continued resource and if
problems come up you can ask questions
and there are lots of people who can
(and do) contribute to the answer.”
“For a small local authority like us we
can’t afford to employ lots of people in
one area of work. Knowledge Hub is just
the job and is fantastic.”
8. A problem shared is a problem halved
Paul Ambrose, Bournemouth Council
Paul Ambrose, Principal Engineer at
Bournemouth Borough Council is interested
in topics relating to flooding and drainage.
As this is a complex and technical area, he
has found the discussion and information in
the FlowNet Knowledge Hub Group very
valuable.
Paul describes Knowledge Hub as a
“valuable, friendly and accessible resource”.
The features he finds most helpful are the
forums and the library. “There are lots of
discussions on flooding and drainage, and
the library is set up with documents too. If I
lose a copy or if a file is too big to email, it
will always be on Knowledge Hub”.
For Paul the biggest benefit is being able to
connect with others who work in the same
field as him, particularly because he is the
only person working in flooding and
drainage in his authority.
“Flooding and drainage is an obscure and
technical subject and if a question comes up
no one else in the council will be able to
answer it. Knowledge Hub puts you in
contact with others – I don’t have the time
and resources to investigate every flooding
and drainage issue”.
An example of how Knowledge Hub has
helped Paul in his work is when he asked a
question about water companies wanting to
hand back some pipes to councils or land
owners as they no longer consider them
public sewers. “A lot of other local
authorities have a similar problem and what
helped me is when people said that they
could reference case law and were able to
explain it. This has helped to improve my
own knowledge. It hasn’t helped me to get
the answers yet but I know a lot more about
the subject now than when I started”.
Paul likes how Knowledge Hub “puts you in
touch with people who deal with the same
work issues as you. For a small local
authority like us we can’t afford to employ
lots of people in one area of work.
Knowledge Hub is just the job and is
fantastic. It’s a continued resource and if
problems come up you can ask questions
and there are lots of people who can (and
do) contribute to the answer”.
Paul certainly sees the opportunities of
using Knowledge Hub. However, there is
also a challenge because of the amount of
information available. “There is so much
information and knowledge out there and
you have to know the right questions to ask
to get the right answers. Often you know of
a particular problem but you have to put it
into simple language for others.”

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“Collaboration is the key to going
forward; sharing information and
approaches saves costs, time and
travel.”
“…engaging, simple to use, targeted,
informative and current.”
9. Finding the right people is easier now
Peter Hall, Southend-On-Sea Borough Council
Peter Hall, Senior Advisor for Equalities and
Inclusion at Southend-on-Sea Borough
Council primarily uses Knowledge Hub for
his role as the equalities and inclusion lead.
This involves keeping up to date with the
latest thinking and current issues on equality
and diversity, policy areas, welfare reform,
demographics and other related areas.
Knowledge Hub helps him “keep in touch in
all of these areas”.
Peter is a facilitator of the Southend and
Essex Equality Network, which helps to
promote and share best practice. He says it
is “a place people can dip in and out of to
access a repository of materials, key
guidance and event information”.
For Peter, the main benefit of using
Knowledge Hub is that it allows him to
access areas he is interested in and “find
out what the current thinking is”. As a
member of various groups he can use his
membership to get a “quick touch on what’s
going on”. He says, “I can get an overview
which keeps me up to date and saves time”.
An example is when councils across the
country were using the group to share their
differing approaches towards meeting the
requirements of The Public Sector Equality
Duty. “Discussing and agreeing a pragmatic
approach to meeting the requirements of the
Duty helped to ensure consistency across
authorities who took part in the discussion.”
Setting up the Southend and Essex Equality
Network was an innovative decision for
Peter in his work area. He says,
“Collaboration is the key to going forward;
sharing information and approaches saves
costs, time and travel”.
Another key benefit for Peter is having the
ability to make the links to various
individuals. Peter says “finding the right
people is easier now and finding the right
groups to ask questions to the right people
cuts down on time to do that”.
Peter describes Knowledge Hub as
“engaging, simple to use, targeted,
informative and current”. He finds it helpful
because “it allows you to share your
thoughts across the piece, picking up
current thinking and conversations”.

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“I have learnt a great deal about my job
through the discussions I’ve had, and it’s
helped me to keep up to date with news
in my industry.”
“Generally, I’d be lost without it.”
10. Learning specialist knowledge to build expertise
Riley Marsden, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Riley Marsden, Geographic Information
Officer at Barnsley Metropolitan Borough
Council says Knowledge Hub is a “really
useful resource and adds to best practice
sharing”.
Due to the nature of his unique role (this
tends to be the case at other councils too),
Riley says, “Knowledge Hub is ideal for me
to access peers, knowledge and support
from others in councils”.
Knowledge Hub provides Riley with three
key benefits:
 making connections
 sharing best practice
 accessing specialist knowledge.
“I have learnt a great deal about my job
through the discussions I’ve had, and it’s
helped me to keep up to date with news in
my industry. It’s a wonderful way to put
information out there for others to see.”
Faced with a technical issue to integrate
Local Land Property Gazetteer data and
council tax data, Riley says, “I asked a
question in the forum and explained the
problem I was having. I asked if anyone had
experienced the same thing and if anyone
had overcome it. About four or five people in
24 hours said that they too had tried to do
the same thing, had the same problem, and
what they were doing about it.
“The conversation continued outside of
Knowledge Hub and with this collective
knowledge I was able to get technical
advice, help others, and in turn help my
work.”
Due to the niche area, in which Riley works,
he says, “The case study material on
Knowledge Hub gives me lots of new ideas
to take away and implement here in my own
council”. Riley also likes to pass on his
knowledge to the groups he is a member of,
“If there is something I think is useful I will
share the work we have done here at
Barnsley”.
Riley believes that “if more people use it
there will be more opportunities”. The
Geoplace group Riley is a member of is well
used and that is why it’s useful to him.
People are using the tools there and are
joining up”.
Using Knowledge Hub has meant that Riley
is less reliant on attending face-to-face
events. “They are costly and sometimes
hard to get to”. Although he values face-to-
face opportunities, Riley compares attending
one or two events per year and says, “You
can get the same level of detail as looking at
a year’s worth of posts on Knowledge Hub,
where you can keep up-to-date in your field.
You can’t compare the two. Generally, I’d be
lost without it”.

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“It’s good value time-wise, because you
don’t have to leave your desk to take
part.”
11. Creating a brand through professional e-networking
Sarah Coupe, Charnwood Borough Council
Sarah Coupe, Children and Young People’s
Strategic Coordinator at Charnwood
Borough Council joined Knowledge Hub as
part of a project which involved running a
network. She describes Knowledge Hub as
“a professional e-networking site”. She
spends 90 per cent of her time at work
communicating, and says her network is an
“extension of how we do what we do, where
tools are available for the whole group to
use”.
During the network’s face-to-face meetings,
a discussion will be taking place and
someone will always say “put it on
Knowledge Hub and start a forum”. This
happens regularly now and Sarah happily
admits that “it’s become almost like a
competition to see who says it first!”
To encourage the network to use
Knowledge Hub, Sarah has stopped
sending some things via email. She makes
things available on Knowledge Hub only,
knowing the network will want to access it.
Since using Knowledge Hub Sarah says, “It
has given us a brand as a network. It’s
allowed us to progress what the network
does in the face-to-face meetings and now
there’s an interim place to go to.
“It’s about building a brand for our network
and making sure momentum carries on”.
Over the course of the year the network is
able to maintain its identity and there’s a
base to support their quarterly face-to-face
meetings. Knowledge Hub has helped
motivate members and encourage
communications between meetings. Sarah
says it is “good value time wise because you
don’t have to leave your desk to take part.
It’s a quick way to get information and give
information”.
She likes find out what others are sharing
and what they find most interesting. “It
enhances your knowledge about what other
services can provide, and you can signpost
people to more information. People are
working cooperatively and are not
duplicating things”.
Sarah intends to use the wiki feature to
present some work on statistically profiling
several community areas. These
discussions will help illustrate the “stories
behind the statistics”.
An example of how Sarah’s network has
helped others learn and share is with a
group of teachers and other colleagues who
were made redundant. “This group of people
could have been isolated, but instead they
are a part of the network and can find out
what’s going on.” People of interest are now
involved instead of going off doing their own
thing and possibly wasting time and effort.
“Being able to share information like this in a
professional environment creates
opportunities to start conversations and
discuss new ideas”

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“It’s great because I enjoy networking
with people, and it means I don’t have to
go on a long journey to speak to them –
it can be instant”.
“It’s a useful and valuable part of the
support package.”
12. An instant resource to pool our resources
Sue Dickinson, Bury Council
Sue Dickinson, Childcare Sufficiency
Manager at Bury Council joined Knowledge
Hub through the Achieving Two Year Olds
project she was project managing at Bury
Council. A Knowledge Hub group was set
up for those working on this project across
all councils.
What Sue finds most beneficial about using
Knowledge Hub is being able to connect
with people. She says, “It’s great because I
enjoy networking with people, and it means I
don’t have to go on a long journey to speak
to them – it can be instant. If you’ve got a
question or query you can put it out to a lot
of people”.
There are several examples where
Knowledge Hub has helped Sue save time
and effort. “When we first started looking at
marketing for the project we managed to pull
out a flyer which another local authority had
done and use it to create our own”.
Sue’s team were also able to gain more
marketing ideas to promote the project’s
outcomes to those who were eligible, and
through the group membership she says
“we got some cheap and cost-effective
ideas which we could use here at Bury”.
Sue goes on to explain how being a
member of this Knowledge Hub group has
been vital to the project, particularly in the
development stage when things were
hanging all the time. She says, “I could keep
an eye on what other local authorities are
doing, and Knowledge Hub is one way of
communicating and picking up best practice.
It’s a useful and valuable part of the support
package”.
Knowledge Hub provides a number of
opportunities for Sue. She says, “It’s instant.
You get reminders when new information
has been added and you can click on the
links you find useful”.
For Knowledge Hub to be more useful more
local authorities should be using it. Sue
says, “More marketing should be done to
promote and encourage local authorities to
use it. It’s very different because it’s real
sharing, not like LinkedIn, Facebook and
Twitter. It’s more about information sharing”.
She believes Knowledge Hub is
straightforward to use, “Once you get into it
the system is easy to navigate. It’s cracking!
And it works well for me. It is really useful”.
Sue says Knowledge Hub is a “brilliant
instant online network” and describes it as
“an instant resource for sharing information”.

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“A good way of learning what other
people are doing.”
“You can’t always do it on your own and
you need other people to network with.”
13. Smarter and faster working
John Scott, Three Rivers District Council
John Scott, Environmental Health Manager
at Three Rivers District Council uses
Knowledge Hub regularly for part of his role
as secretary for a working group. He
organises meetings and distributes minutes,
notes and agendas, and finds the library and
notifications most helpful to him.
Knowledge Hub provides John with “a good
way of learning what other people are
doing”. He says “picking up practice” in this
way is helpful and adds, “I can distribute
information as I use it”.
Knowledge Hub also helps John keep up to
date with what is going on in his area of
work and on occasion has saved him time.
Through his membership of the Food
Hygiene Forum, John was able to access a
list of disinfectants which comply with British
Standards. “The problem was that many of
the disinfectants lacked the correct labelling
and you couldn’t tell if they complied with
the standards. Someone in the Food
Hygiene Forum compiled a central list of the
products which did comply for us all to see”.
Prior to joining Knowledge Hub, John relied
on MS Outlook to send and receive emails
to help him keep in touch with people. What
John likes about Knowledge Hub is that “it’s
smarter and faster working. You can’t
always do it on your own and you need
other people to network with”.
However, as with any concept of change or
innovation to improve working practices
there are some people who will use
Knowledge Hub and some who will not.
John admits to having to continue to send
emails to the ones who don’t use it, but says
“more people need to embrace it for it to
work better”. John recognises a “certain
level of reluctance” from some people who
have used Knowledge Hub and may have a
“technophobe attitude”.
John says Knowledge Hub is “good once
you get used to it” and although there is a
range of help materials available, he thinks
“an interactive tutorial or virtual helper”
would encourage some people. He says,
“An online tutorial that appears as soon as
you have joined which explains how to post
a question and how to add a file would
help”.
John also feels that a mobile version of
Knowledge Hub in the future would
encourage more people to embrace it.

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For more information please contact
Knowledge Team
Digital Communications and Knowledge
Local Government Association
Local Government House
Smith Square
London SW1P 3HZ
Email: kmteam@local.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 7664 3166
Contact the Local Government Association
Telephone: 020 7664 3000
Email: info@lga.gov.uk
Website: www.local.gov.uk
© Local Government Association, October 2011
For a copy in Braille, larger print or audio, please contact us on 020 7664 3000.
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