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Webcast view of county services
MEETINGS of the bodies that control South Yorkshire's police and fire services will be broadcast on the internet for at least a year under a trial aimed at increasing public awareness of their functions.
Footage of the passenger transport authority will also be shown live during meetings and then stored in an archive where it will be available to be viewed at will.
The aim of the project is to increase the transparency of the work of the bodies, which are made up largely of councillors who serve on the county's four district councils.
A year-long trial will be instigated with the results analysed before a final decision is made about whether to continue and it is hoped the cameras will be operational in time for annual meetings, which take place in June.
The project will involve installing microphones at the meeting rooms in Barnsley, where the authorities do business, along with cameras which would automatically focus on those speaking.
Although it requires staff to set up the equipment, those duties can be performed by existing personnel within the Joint Secretariat, the bureaucratic body which fulfils the authorities' administration.
Meetings will be broadcast live, but it is anticipated many viewers would go into archives later to retrieve footage about specific items which interested them.
It is believed that access would improve public knowledge of the organisations which run some major services, but which remain little known in the public eye.
It is also anticipated the move will help cut costs for the organisations, by removing the need for some officials to attend meetings.
A report states: "Considerable efficiencies can be gained from webcasting as it allows officers and staff who would not normally attend authority meetings to view those parts of meetings which are relevant to them and see and hear for themselves the discussion and decisions on items.
"On occasions it is also possible that officers who would otherwise have attended meetings do not need to do so, which may generate actual cash savings."
Webcasting is already conducted by Hull City Council but only for major meetings of the full council and no other local authorities in this region have yet adopted the system.
It is expected that a 12-month trial will cost no more than 20,000, including the installation of microphones.
It has been used for some years elsewhere in the country, including some London boroughs and Lancashire where it has been regarded as successful.
If the webcasting of meetings were to be adopted in the long-term, it would open up opportunities for the authorities to broadcast other films, which could include videos explaining subjects such as budgets and the long-term plans of the organisations.
Multilingual information films could also be made available, potentially allowing the authorities to penetrate some of the county's minority communities.
The main meetings of the authorities will be filmed and broadcast along with the major sub-committees of each one.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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