The Leicestershire Community Strategy produced by Leicestershire Together includes a commitment to 'develop a sub-regional website to share information between agencies and with the public about Leicestershire Communities.'

The Community Information Initiative was established in 2002 and aims to bring together partner organisations from across the county to share information and intelligence and to work together to improve the information about the communities we serve.

Taking the lead, the County Councils Research and Information Team have organised a couple of seminars: Lies Damn Lies 2002 and More Lies Damn Lies 2003  which brought together a range of organisations to establish an inclusive, joint approach to sharing and using information in the county.

A Community Information Steering Group meets regularly, with a wide range of organisations represented (List of members) The Steering Group has been responsible for developing a Strategy for Community Information in Leicestershire and the Data Sharing Protocol: an overarching agreement which allows partners to exchange data to deliver the Stategy.

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The Strategy for Community Information in Leicestershire was developed by a number of organisations and was the subject of wide consultation on earlier drafts. The final version was approved by the Steering Group in early 2004 and provides a framework for partner organisations to develop a joint approach to using and sharing information. A copy of the Strategy can be downloaded HERE.

The Strategy has four key aims:

The Data Sharing Protocol (October 2003) was jointly developed by a range of public sector organisations in Leicester and Leicestershire to facilitate the sharing of information between organisations.  It provides an over-arching framework to establish and regulate working practice and facilitate the sharing of information between organisations. An electronic copy of the Data Sharing Protocol can be downloaded HERE.

A wide range of partner organisations have already endorsed the Data Sharing Protocol and it is now being applied in many organisations across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. A list of organisations across who have signed up to the Data Sharing Protocol can be viewed HERE.

One of the key aims of the Strategy for Community Information Information is to develop a web portal to give access to a range of information. Leicestershire together working jointly with Leicester Partnership and Leicester Shire Economic Partnership, a web portal has been developed - the Leicester Shire Online Research Atlas - www.lsora.org.. A pilot version of the portal was launched to a selection of organisations. The portal will continue to be developed through this pilot phase with the addition of more data and improved funtionality. This will be launched to a wider audience in early 2005.

If you require information on any of the items listed above, or would like to learn more about the Initiative and how to become more involved, please contact Robert Radburn (rradburn@leics.gov.uk)