The Awards Panel was looking for organisations to demonstrate that they are using information or communications technology, which has generated significant organisational or service improvement. There needed to be evidence of ease of use, improved access, higher productivity and better linkages.

Finalists

East Riding of Yorkshire Council & arvato government services

In November 2005 the government published its vision for long term transformation – “Transformational Government” one of the key messages being that councils should make extensive use of IT on the front line. In addition to this both the Gershon efficiency review of 2004 and Varney report of 2006 give out a key message that better use of IT is the way forward.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council in partnership with arvato government services (ERYC) Ltd have continually welcomed ways to use IT to boost efficiency. We have constantly sought solutions where solutions didn’t exist, developed many new products and shared our best practice on a national scale.

Our work has attracted attention from senior government officials, and we have showcased many of our initiatives to other authorities. We are proud of our achievements, and hope to move forward with new projects to keep attain our aim of top 10% performance.

RICS & VOA

It became apparent in 2003 to both the RICS and Valuation Office Agency that if the administration of the 2005 Rating Revaluation in England and Wales was to benefit from the opportunities offered by modern IT techniques it was essential that the VOA worked with Private Practice Rating Surveyors to develop mutually compatible computer programs.

Initial discussions led to the formation of joint working parties of practitioners and software consultants who together worked up an effective communication strategy which enabled the various computer software programs used by Private Practice Surveyors to interconnect directly with that used by the VOA.

This electronic communication project has reduced paperwork, as well as its associated storage requirements in both the VOA and Private Practice offices, saved on postage, improved efficiency and saved over £1.2 million to date in the public sector with broadly similar savings for Private Practice Surveyors.

Scottish Assessors

The Scottish Assessors' Portal is part of the Definitive National Addressing for Scotland initiative, a Modernising Government project funded by the Scottish Executive/Scottish local government community.

As part of this project, all 14 Assessors in Scotland work in partnership to develop and maintain the Scottish Assessors' Portal. For the first time there is now single point access to all properties/subjects contained in the Valuation Roll and Council Tax List. The public interface provides online access to a range of information in addition to allowing users to interact electronically with Assessors’ offices.

The emphasis of the Portal’s development has been, and will continue to be, Assessors’ ability to deliver services that are customer-focused using IT (and web-based tools) to transform the way these services are delivered, with the overall objective of providing enhanced joined-up government services beneficial to central and local government organisations, and citizens alike.