Digital Services

Engagement Summary:

The Digital Services Consultation had two key objectives:

• understand how to build confidence in the Province’s approach to ‘digital services’ and the identity management program; and
• learn more about the needs and values of British Columbians so that the Provincial Government can meet them. The Digital Services Consultation had four main components: a white paper that describes the consultation approach, a BC Services Card User Panel, a Specialists Forum and Open Public Input.

 
From August 1, 2013 to August 22, 2013, the Province’s (represented by the Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services) invited citizen input on a white paper that described the consultation design – the steps we are going to take to consult with British Columbians on how the Province’s vision for digital services can best come to life. Citizen’s feedback helped shape the final design of the consultation which included three main consultation streams:

1. BC Services Card User Panel
2. IdentityNorth Specialist’s Forum
3. Open Public Input Survey

 
BC Services Card User Panel
 
Starting in late September 2013, thousands of randomly selected households across the province received packages inviting them to be part of the BC Services Card User Panel. From the responses to this package, 35 panel members were randomly selected in a draw that balances for age, gender and geography. A minimum of one seat each was held for an Aboriginal BC resident and for a person with disabilities.
 
The User Panel met over two weekends in November 2013 to learn about digital services and the BC Services Card, and provide their recommendations to government. Read the Recommendations from the BC Services Card User Panel here.
 
Specialist’s Forum
 
The User Panel complemented the Specialists’ Forum which was held on November 13 and 14, 2013. This forum, organized by IdentityNorth brought together privacy, security, service delivery and technology experts. Those who understand the needs of youth, people with disabilities, Aboriginal people and other key populations were also invited. The Specialist’s Forum provided an opportunity for experts to scrutinize the Province’s digital service strategy. Read the Specialist Forum Report here.
 
Online Survey
 
At the same time, between November 1, 2013 and January 16, 2014, there was an Open Public Survey on the Metroquest platform in order to gauge the importance of different priorities to respondents. Within the survey, there were three survey section themes (My Daily Life, My Child’s Education and My Small Business) to ask people questions about tangible options for integrating digital services and the digital services card into their lives.
 

Timeframe:

August 1, 2012 – January 16, 2014
 

Input Received:

There were:

• 1,445 visits to the site, 8 blog comments
• 35 panel members
• 1,105  survey responses (1,800 visits to survey)
• 3 face to face events

Input Leads to Action:

Government’s response considered all of the inputs and recommendations to arrive at a series of findings and commitments outlined in the Minister’s Response.  The primary themes found in the consultation were:

• providing service value as the primary driver
• continuing to make privacy and security paramount
• continuing to provide citizens a choice in how they are served (channel choice)
• giving citizens control over their data