Press release: 72 finalists announced in the e-Government National Awards 2009

The finalists have been announced in this year’s e-Government National Awards. The highly sought-after awards recognise excellence across eleven categories, highlighting the UK’s top public sector innovators in the use of technology, enabling businesses and citizens to better communicate with councils, central government, NHS and other public sector organisations. UK Government CIO John Suffolk will reveal the winners on 20th January at a Ministerial dinner at the City of London's Guildhall.

A judging panel including experts from both the public and private sectors selected 72 finalists from hundreds of nominations. The winners will be announced at an award ceremony and Ministerial dinner on 20 January 2010, chaired by UK Government CIO John Suffolk. This event will be held at the magnificent City of London's Guildhall.

The standard of nominations in this year’s competition has been extremely high, providing an insight into the great work being done across the public sector, from central government and NHS to voluntary organisations and universities. Key themes among this year's finalists are services which help build a fairer society and are based on sustainable or carbon-neutral 'Green IT'; all key issues on the Awards’ parent news site PublicTechnology.net.

Finalists will be judged on their e-Government and technology-driven service delivery and how far their innovation has positively transformed the lives of citizens, local communities, businesses and stakeholders.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, joining last year’s event via video link, said; "When times are tough, as they are now, it is more important than ever for government to work as smoothly and efficiently as possible, so it's good to see technology providing real efficiency gains at the same time as increasing the effectiveness of services."

Now in their sixth year, the annual e-Government National Awards are supported by the Cabinet Office; the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) and the Society of IT Management (SOCITM). Platinum sponsor of the Awards is KPMG, and also a sponsor is H2O Networks.
Places at the awards ceremony are limited, and sold out very quickly last year. Please click here to enquire about booking your place.

John Suffolk, the Government's Chief Information Officer, says: "Every year these Awards continue to get better and better and tougher to select the winners out of many hundreds of top quality entries. The sheer innovation, passion for citizen service and pride with which the teams have executed their projects makes me hugely proud, and humble, to be in IT within the Public Sector."

Donald Graham, Chief Executive Hertsmere Borough Council and Phil Coppard OBE, Chief Executive of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council said on behalf of SOLACE: "This year's entrants continue to demonstrate the strong vein of improvement and innovation present in the public sector. We were particularly pleased by the strong showing from local government. While a competition by definition necessarily produces winners and losers the judges had some difficult decisions to make. We hope all entrants will be encouraged by their participation in the national awards scheme for e–government to see this as a learning and sharing experience that ultimately benefits the many citizens reliant upon our services. These innovations and partnerships are strong evidence of mature organizations that can and do make a fundamental difference to the quality of people's lives through the intelligent use of technology."

Steve Palmer, President of Socitm & CIO at the London Borough of Hillingdon says: "Judging the e-Government National Awards this year has been exciting and thought provoking. The quality of submissions overall has been high with some exceptional, stand out, examples of technology being used positively to change the lives and opportunities of the people we exist to serve."

Keith Bannister, UK Head of IT Advisory for Government, KPMG, says: "KPMG is proud to be lead sponsor of the awards for the fifth year running, for us this is a way of recognising and celebrating all the good work that’s been done."

"We believe that e-government has helped to transform public services in this country, it has made them more open, more accessible and more efficient. A key theme of this year’s Awards is Government services which help build a fairer, more inclusive society. E-Government gives all citizens and businesses the opportunity to interact directly with services and government which is why we think e-Government is helping to build a fairer society."

Awards sponsor Graham Dupree, head of sales, Government, H2O Networks said: "The innovation and use of technology demonstrated in the entries this year has been outstanding. These awards acknowledge creative thinking in the public sector which has gone a long way to ensure that citizens and consumers are benefiting from much improved services making a real difference to their lives."

Ben Heald, CEO of the Awards' parent company Sift Media says: "I have been incredibly impressed with the standard of entries in this year’s e-Government Awards. I am delighted to be involved and am eagerly anticipating January’s ceremony. My sincere congratulations go to all the finalists and I wish them all the best of luck. This competition is a great indication how quickly IT innovation is changing the way all sectors work and communicate. It’s going to be immensely difficult to pick some of the winners."

Christopher Histed, founder of the e-Government National Awards says: "In this tough economic climate, the Awards are a yardstick proving the UK's excellence in innovative technology-driven services. Good public sector IT has a crucial role to play in delivering increasingly efficient & effective public sector services both at a Local and National level."

The charitable beneficiary of the e-Government National Awards dinner will be the Information Technologists' Company Charity - with all funds raised going to help its work in assisting the lives of the disadvantaged.

The finalists in the e-Government National Awards 2009

1) Building a fairer society with e-Government services (sponsored by KPMG)
(Using ICT & e-Government services to improve social inclusion or improve lives and communities).
•    Customer Service Direct www.activities-unlimited.co.uk – empowering Suffolk children with disabilities to choose and book short breaks
•    Dundee City Council Dundee's Corporate Visiting System - Bringing the Organisation to the Citizens
•    DWP Self Service Project The Benefits Adviser Service (BAS)
•    Identity & Passport Service Video Interview Service
•    Lincolnshire County Council First Contact - referral service for over 60s in Lincolnshire
•    Solihull MBC & Solihull Community Housing Free broadband for disadvantaged communities in North Solihull tower blocks

2) Central e-Government excellence: Take-up & usage growth
(Delivering high & growing take-up of an e-enabled service through effective service delivery & marketing).
•    Cabinet Office and National School for Government Protecting Information across government
•    DWP - Change Programme - Self Service Job Seekers Allowance On-Line
•    HM Revenue & Customs HMRC Self Assessment Online
•    Ministry of Defence Defence Travel Online
•    Post Office Ltd Redesign of www.postoffice.co.uk customer facing website
•    The National Archives The online 1911 census service
•    The National Strategies - DCSF The new National Strategies Web Area

3) Central e-Government excellence: Team
(Proven team-working or partnership activity which has delivered more than the sum of the parts).
•    Driving Standards Agency Driver CPC Project
•    Foreign & Commonwealth Office G20 London Summit Digital Campaign Team
•    Home Office Next Generation Information Systems Technology Programme, Extend and Blend Project Team
•    Scottish Prison Service Prisons Resource Library (PRL)
•    UK Border Agency - ICFN Programme Team Identity cards for foreign nationals

4) e-Government excellence: Leadership & Professionalism
(Leading e-Government strategies and professional development which contribute to achieving positive transformation).
•    Cabinet Office and National School for Government Protecting information across government
•    NHS Connecting for Health Public sector shared services for communication & collaboration
•    Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council KCICS: The innovation Integrated Children’s System
•    The National Strategies - DCSF The National Strategies web area
•    The Sheffield College ILT professional development (‘ILT Gateway’) & m-technologies programme (‘MATTS’)
•    University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust VitalPAC Project

5) e-Government excellence: Shared Services
(Proven shared services which have delivered effective services and efficiency gains).
•    Cambridgeshire & Northamptonshire County Councils Oracle ERP Shared Service
•    Hampshire County Council The Hampshire Local Government Partnership
•    Home Office Shared Business Services (SBS) Programme
•    Kent Connects Kent Public Service Network
•    Royal Navy-led EU NAVFOR Collaborative shared & secure communication service for international military ships
•    The National Policing Improvement Agency Airwave digital comms on the London Underground

6) e-Government excellence: Innovation in strategy on a national level
(Delivering innovative strategies which have demonstrated above-average results in improved services, processes and effectiveness within the transformational government agenda).
•    Businesslink.gov.uk Public Service Reform
•    HM Revenue and Customs Open Case Clearance Acceleration Programme
•    HM Revenue and Customs Modernising PAYE Processes for Customers
•    NHS Tayside Health Informatics Directorate EDISON: Electronic Discharge Information System Online Nationally
•    The Improvement Service Customer First - National CRM Programme
•    The National Policing Improvement Agency The Mobile Information Programme
•    UK Border Agency e-Borders

 7) e-Government excellence: Innovation in strategy at a local level (sponsored by H2O Networks)
(Delivering innovative strategies which have delivered above-average results in improved services, transformed processes & results, increased effectiveness).
•    AXESS West Sussex Streamlined customer transactions through Integration & tracking at Crawley Council
•    Cardiff Council Transforming Cardiff’s Special Educational Needs school transport with IT
•    Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service Starting Proactive Response, Introducing New Gains, Benefiting Older-people and Reducing Dependency (SPRINGBOARD)
•    Essex County Council Purchase to Pay
•    Harrow Council Business Transformation Partnership; digitising Harrow's waste services
•    Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust Using hand-held IT to improve patient monitoring and care
•    The Dudley Library Service Self service library provision at Dudley MBC via RFID-enabled library links
•    West Midlands Fire Service Activity Assistant 2 Framework

8) Local e-Government excellence: Take-up & usage growth
(Ensuring high & growing take-up of an e-enabled service through effective service delivery & marketing).
•    Bracknell Forest Council Leading the smart card revolution in Local Authorities
•    Customer Service Direct All about buy-in: setting transactional websites to work for public sector partners.
•    Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council Directorate of the Urban Environment Online Planning Services
•    Kettering Borough Council Local Land Charges Online Service
•    Network West Midlands - Centro Network West Midlands Website
•    South Tyneside Council Shifting waste & recycling transactions to the web through effective marketing

9) Local e-Government excellence: Team
(Proven team-working or partnership activity which has delivered more than the sum of the parts).
•    Cheshire West and Chester Council Revenues & Benefits Systems Convergence Project for local government Reorganisation
•    Cornwall Council One Cornwall One Address
•    Hampshire County Council Learn.IT Programme Team: Hampshire’s innovative, blended and successful ICT learning portal/network.
•    LGfL Innovative management model for the delivery of regional services across autonomous bodies
•    Lincolnshire County Council First Contact: referral scheme for Lincolnshire residents aged over 60
•    NHS Lothian The TrakHealth Programme Team
•    North West Learning Grid National Digital Resource Bank

10) e-Government excellence in Learning & Skills
(Public sector online or electronic services which transform learning & skills outcomes).
•    Becta The Home Access programme
•    British Council Cardiff Online - British Council's online coverage of IATEFL 2009 Conference
•    Cornwall Partnership Trust E-learning and Information Hub for the Health Care Community Across Cornwall
•    Lancashire Music Service Lancashire Music Service Interactive - INSPIRA
•    Learning and Skills Improvement Service Skills for Life Core Curriculum on the Excellence Gateway
•    Learning Skills Council National Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching programme
•    NHS Education for Scotland NES ePortfolio
•    The National Strategies - DCSF The National Strategies web area
•    Ufi / Learndirect learndirect: proven success in delivering mass scale web-supported web supported learning

11) e-Government excellence: For sustainable, 'green IT' or 'carbon-efficient services (sponsored by KPMG)
(ICT & e-Government services which are helping the environment).
•    Imperial College London CO2 Based Efficient High Performance Computing Cooling System
•    London Borough of Hillingdon Beyond the Potting Shed - Affordable Resilience and a Greener IT infrastructure
•    NHS N3 N3SP Sustainability project
•    Queen Margaret University The QMU thin-client project
•    The University of Liverpool University of Liverpool PowerDown

Related web links:
e-Government National Awards: www.e-governmentawards.org.uk
Cabinet Office: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
SOCITM: www.socitm.gov.uk
SOLACE: www.solace.org.uk
KPMG: www.kpmg.co.uk
H20 Networks:

www.h2o-networks.uk.net
Sift Media: www.siftmedia.co.uk
PublicTechnology.net: www.publictechnology.net

Press contacts:
For Cabinet Office enquiries:
Alex Marklew, press officer – 020 7276 2533
Alex.Marklew@Cabinet-Office.x.gsi.gov.uk

For awards enquiries: Matt Henkes, commercial editor, Sift Media – 0117 915 8654
Matt.Henkes@SiftMedia.co.uk