Finalists announced in the UK Public Sector Digital Awards 2011

Excellence in public sector ICT delivery can be clearly seen in the finalists for this year’s UK Public Sector Digital Awards.

The finalists were selected by an expert panel of judges across eleven categories following a record number of entries to the awards – which are backed by the Cabinet Office and recognise excellence and innovation in digital initiatives in national and local government, the NHS, education and the third sector.

This year’s list of finalists includes best practice entries from the NHS and education sectors, and demonstrates the outstanding commitment to innovation and operational improvement across the public sector, under difficult circumstances.

The Awards ceremony, attended by ministers, top-civil servants and technology experts from the public and private sectors, will be held on Thursday 19 January at the London Guildhall.

Katy Ring, award judge and Director of K2 Advisory, said:

"In what has been a challenging year for public sector ICT, the 2011 nominations illuminate a wealth of successful, smaller, digital projects that are well worth celebrating, and which showcase the level of IT talent we continue to enjoy in the UK public sector."

Chris Histed, the founder of the e-Government National Awards and award judge, said:

"It is excellent to see the strong performance of finalists, who are delivering a range of highly effective services made possible by the use of technology in an efficient and customer-focussed manner. Some finalists demonstrated innovation which have a major national impact, while others are delivering what's needed on a local level."

James Johns, Director of Strategy, Civil Government, HP Enterprise Services, said:

"It sometimes seems almost fashionable in some quarters to paint a overly negative picture of Public Sector IT and what it has delivered. However, the many excellent and inspiring entries in this year’s Public Sector Digital Awards are a timely reminder of the great work that’s done by IT experts in public bodies up and down the country, day in day out, using technology to transform services for citizens, deliver a fairer society and improve value for money for the taxpayer. It was a privilege to be a member of this year’s judging panel."

Keith Bannister, KPMG’s Head of Public Sector Technology consulting said:

"We are delighted to be sponsoring the UK Public Sector Digital Awards especially given the high quality of the entries this year. This year’s nominations demonstrate an increased use of social media and lower cost collaborative projects to deliver services to the public in an innovative way which increases the levels of public engagement. The fact that we see this level of achievement from the technology community despite the challenges across the public sector is highly commendable."

The judging panel:

• Joe Harley CBE, CIO, for the UK Government and CIO & Director General for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
• Bill McCluggage, Director of ICT Strategy & Policy and HM Government Deputy CIO
• Keith Bannister, Partner IT Advisory (Public Sector), KPMG
• Jos Creese, Head of IT, Hampshire County Council (and immediate past President of Socitm)
• Chris Histed, founder, e-Government National Awards
• Stuart Lauchlan, Head of Editorial, Sift Media
• Gary Flood, Editor, PublicTechnology.net
• Katy Ring, Director, K2 Advisory
• James Johns, Director of Strategy, Civil Government, HP Enterprise Services
• Nick Jones, Interactive director, Central Office of Information

Full list of finalists:

1. Best use of social media
   Sponsored by BT
   • The Harvest Housing Group Facebook Page
   • Your Library - City of Edinburgh Council Libraries and Information Services
   • Northern Ireland forms new power-sharing government 1 tweet at a time - Executive Information Service (of the Northern Ireland Executive)
   • Brass: Durham International Festival - Durham County Council
   • Foster carers support each other with Yammer - Monmouthshire County Council
   • Social Media- the lethal weapon in the fight against rogue traders - Suffolk County Council Trading Standards
      
2. Best sustainability initiative
   Sponsored by K2 Advisory
   • Going Green at Warrington Collegiate - Warrington Collegiate
   • Telestroke Network Project - NHS Surrey
   • Talk about Cambridgeshire - Cambridgeshire Libraries and Learning Services
      
3. Best example of shared services in practice
   Sponsored by HP
   • Partners- Lifeblood of our Organisation-Kettering Borough Council
   • Portfolio Marketplace - Nottingham City Council
   • Herefordshire Council and NHS Herefordshire Shared Network Delivers Real Cost Savings - Herefordshire Council and NHS Herefordshire
   • The National Resilience Extranet - The Cabinet Office
   • NHS North Central London Cluster Procurement Cooperative - NHS Camden Shared Services
   • myjobscotland - Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
   • PSBA - Welsh Government
      
4. Best example of digital transformation
   Sponsored by KPMG
   • Loughborough Goes Google - Loughborough University
   • NYP mobile - North Yorkshire Police
   • Trafford Council and FutureEverything with DataGM Greater Manchester's open data store - Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council
   • MyHarrow - Harrow Council
   • HM Revenue & Customs Online Portal Service - HM Revenue & Customs
   • Transformation of Barts and The London NHS Trust clinical haematology unit to a paperless operation - Barts and The London NHS Trust
   • Neighbourhood Watch & Good Neighbours Scheme - e@SY Connects
      
5. Best example of ICT-enabled innovation and enterprise
   Sponsored by Tata Consultancy Services
   • SARAH Mobile Working Solution - Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
   • NYP mobile - North Yorkshire Police
   • NHS North Central London Cluster Procurement Cooperative - NHS Camden Shared Services
   • The Big Society-Alive and clicking in Bramcote - Broxtowe Borough Council
   • Transformation of Barts and The London NHS Trust clinical haematology unit to a paperless operation - Barts and The London NHS Trust
   • Department of Health - Mobile Technology Project to improve Community Services - Transforming Community Services Programme, Department of Health
   • legislation.gov.uk - The National Archives
   • Telestroke Network Project - NHS Surrey
   • E Registration - Land Registry for Northern Ireland
      
6. Best use of ICT to build a fairer society
   • Professionals Online Safety Helpline - UK Safer Internet Centre
   • Leicester City Council Enterprise Reporting Platform - Leicester City Council
   • Citizenzone- Free community IT training sessions - Preston City Council
   • Talk about Cambridgeshire - Cambridgeshire Libraries and Learning Services
   • Neighbourhood Watch & Good Neighbours Scheme - e@SY Connects
      
7. Best example of commercial innovation
   Sponsored by JBW Group
   • GradsKent (www.GradsKent.com) - Kent County Council
   • Portfolio Marketplace - Nottingham City Council
   • The Intalink Phone App - Hertfordshire County Council
   • NHS North Central London Cluster Procurement Cooperative - NHS Camden Shared Services
   • Centro's Smartcard Initiative - West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority
   • Worcestershire Health Community - using unified communications to improve efficiency - The Worcestershire Health Community
      
8. Best ICT delivery team
   • Digital Communications within and by HMRC - HMRC
   • The Best Things Come in Small Packages! - Kettering Borough Council
   • THE NES Portal: Delivering more education for less money across every health profession in Scotland - NHS Education for Scotland
   • Networks eCND Team - Ministry of Defence
   • Building Our New Home (BONH) - Home Group Limited
   • Building Schools for the Future Wave 2 Implementation Programme - Liverpool City Council
   • National Centre for Applied Learning Technologies: E-Learning/Managed Learning Environment - National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) & Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)
      
9. Best example of citizen engagement
   • NYP mobile - North Yorkshire Police
   • MyHarrow - Harrow Council
   • The Big Society-Alive and clicking in Bramcote - Broxtowe Borough Council
   • Social Media- the lethal weapon in the fight against rogue traders - Suffolk County Council Trading Standards
   • Talk about Cambridgeshire - Cambridgeshire Libraries and Learning Services
   • The Big Design Challenge Cornwall - DOTT (Design of the Times) Cornwall
   • Neighbourhood Watch & Good Neighbours Scheme - e@SY Connects
      
10. Best project delivery
    • THE NES Portal: Delivering more education for less money across every health profession in Scotland - NHS Education for Scotland
    • e-safeguarding - improving children's social care - Surrey County Council
    • CECiL - City of Edinburgh Interactive Learning - City of Edinburgh Council
    • NHS North Central London Cluster Procurement Cooperative - NHS Camden Shared Services
    • The National Address Gazetteer Database - GeoPlace
    • National Centre for Applied Learning Technologies: E-Learning/Managed Learning Environment - National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) & Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)
    • East Sussex County Council redefining IT service delivery to schools with CentraStage - East Sussex County Council

Notes to Editors

Related web links:

• UK Public Sector Digital Awards: www.ukpublicsectordigitalawards.co.uk
• KPMG: www.kpmg.co.uk
• Sift Media: www.siftmedia.co.uk
• PublicTechnology.net: http://www.publictechnology.net

Press enquiries:

Meg Pope, Events Marketing Producer, Sift Media
meg.pope@siftmedia.co.uk
+44 (0)117 916 9614

For awards enquiries:

Rita Andrews, Head of Events, Sift Media
rita.andrews@siftmedia.co.uk
+44 (0)117 915 8632