South Oxfordshire DC Vale of White Horse DC

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a partnership of councils, or a council-owned company. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself. This award will go to the council that can best show how its use of digital technology is significantly improving outcomes for its residents and/or place. It is not primarily for a council that can show it has systematically transformed its approach to technology or has devised as solution for a specific area of its work, but it is for a council that can demonstrate how its digital acumen is transforming its local area, for instance with regards to the effectiveness of key services and how they support residents. Among the attributes you may seek to showcase in your entry are the benefits of data sharing; how your organisation is ensuring it supports people before they fall into crisis; and how ground-breaking collaboration between local partners has had a significant impact on your local population. This award is designed to recognise vision and farsightedness but may also be suitable for councils which have used their existing digital technology approach in a new or innovative way in their pandemic response.

Embedding a digital first approach within South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse DCs’ planning department has produced outstanding results, shifting from traditional text-heavy documents to highly engaging and accessible interactive websites. The feedback from users, councillors and the government has been overwhelmingly positive, which was even more satisfying given the work was done in-house and on time, showing the value of empowering staff to be creative. The success of the digital output has shown other service areas the benefits of this approach and led to this being established as best practice across the councils.