Ms Catherine Heaney:

In many ways I regard the Citizens Information Board website as a key instrument with which to engage with the public and to help people such as the committee members to navigate social services and to provide coherent, trusted and clear public information. The Chairman is bang on the button as to what the post-Covid society may want or require. We are still travelling through much change and do not know how the dust will settle but we have to be cognisant in looking at our future planning and how we respond to how society is interacting and how people get their information. I would emphasise the importance of trust in everything we do to ensure we maintain that reputation and trust in order that people know where to turn to. As a point of information, Citizens Information had about 15 million hits to its website in 2020, which shows that people are looking for information and turning to Citizens Information. We have to make sure we do everything to be visible and available to all our publics, including people who, as was said, do not have immediate access to certain technologies, are not digitally literate or may not even have effective broadband technology to be able to take part in the likes of the chat function. Making sure we remain accessible to all citizens and remain that trusted voice has to be our priority as we embark on our strategic plan.