"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. " said the Prime Minister.

The 11 winners have received the UK's highest level commendation for the best e-Government and technology-driven services - services which, through innovative online delivery or IT implementation, have positively transformed the lives of citizens, local communities, business and stakeholder groups.

Tom Watson MP, Cabinet Office Minister for Transformational Government says: "More and more people are using the internet to carry out everyday tasks like banking and shopping, and they have the right to expect that the public services they rely on are available in the same way.

"The Government is committed to making our public services stronger, more efficient and more accessible than ever before, and we can only achieve this by making most of the opportunities that the digital age opens up.

"While there is still plenty more can be done, these awards show that a huge amount of fantastic, innovative work is going on across the country to ensure that the best advice, information and services are easily available in a way that fits in with busy and diverse modern lifestyles. The winners, and all the nominees, should be very proud of what they have achieved."

Those winning in the e-Government National Awards (from among the 588 nominations) include Birmingham City Council, RNIB Cymru, NHS Connecting for Health, Hertfordshire Constabulary, Fife Council, the London Borough of Croydon, the University of Bath, the Charity Commission, National Savings and Investments and others. The winners were presented with their Awards at a dinner in the City of London's Guildhall, on 20th January, by Minister Tom Watson MP, and Government CIO John Suffolk.

Today's citizens are quite rightly demanding better government services and technology is proven by the winners to be delivering this, breaking new ground and helping to achieve new goals. Important key themes in this year's Awards, run by PublicTechnology.net, are effective implementation of Green IT, and the use of innovative technology to deliver services to help build a fairer society.

John Suffolk, Government Chief Information Officer, at the Cabinet Office, says:
"I have been very pleased to see so many high quality entries for this year's e-Government National Awards, which highlight the many ways technology is being used to transform our public services."

Supporting the Awards were the Government Chief Information Officer (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 sponsors are Directgov, O2 and Jadu.

The charitable beneficiary of the fifth annual e-Government National Awards dinner was the Information Technologists' Company Charity (wcit.org.uk) - with funds raised going to help its work in assisting the lives of the disadvantaged.

Christopher Histed, founder of the e-Government National Awards and CEO of organiser PublicTechnology.net says: "The Awards are a yardstick for UK excellence in innovative government services, including those enabling local communities to transact with their councils, national online government services for citizens or businesses, specific services for vertical industry sectors, and government services delivered online through intermediaries and the voluntary sector."

"KPMG is proud to support the e-Government National Awards as we believe that in today's tough economic climate driving value from IT investments is even more crucial than ever before. Identifying and celebrating the successful contribution that technology can make, whether its improving customer services or driving down costs, is vitally important," says Keith Bannister, Head of IT Advisory, KPMG.

The judging panel included Paul Lankester, the Chief Executive, Stratford on Avon District Council & representing Solace, who says 'The e Government National Awards provide evidence that the public sector is at the forefront of using technology to improve services and value for money. The category winners will not only be national but international exemplars of using e-technology. The standard of entries in this year's e-Government National Awards was excellent. All finalists should be proud of their achievement as their initiative shows how innovation is rife among the public sector.'

Directgov's Chief Executive Jayne Nickalls says: "Directgov aims to make public services easier to access and we're delighted to congratulate the winners of the e-Government National Awards, who share this goal. The award winners demonstrate real innovation and excellence in their fields."

Richard Steel, President Socitm, CIO at the London Borough of Newham, and an Awards judge says: "Socitm believes that there is enormous scope, still, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government service delivery through the exploitation of information technology. It doesn't matter how good the ICT infrastructure is if it's not used effectively by our businesses! All service delivery is now dependent upon ICT."

"We are in an era in which information management has to move beyond the automation of routine tasks, which was the original application of computing, to using the pervasive infrastructure innovatively to ensure accurate, secure, convenient, joined-up and, above all, effective service to our communities. The e-Government National Awards therefore represent an important yardstick in measuring our progress against these goals."

Awards sponsor Mark Armstrong of O2 says 'O2 has enjoyed another successful year working across the Public Sector. Throughout 2008 we have played a key role in a significant number of diverse projects and it is excellent to see mobile technology being deployed innovatively to help drive cost and operational efficiencies. We are also delighted to be sponsoring the e-Government National Awards for a third consecutive year and, once again, reviewing the award nominations has provided a fascinating insight into the vast array of projects and initiatives that are taking place throughout the public sector."

As the UK's leading provider of web content management systems, Awards sponsor Jadu works closely with government organisations to support e-Government excellence and service transformation, by maximising citizen and user engagement. Suraj Kika, CEO of Jadu says "Web 2.0 and CMS technologies provide a major opportunity for local and central government to empower their citizens. Jadu is very proud to be supporting the e-Government National Awards for 2008 in pursuit of this objective".

The e-Government National Awards 2008 were supported by the Cabinet Office, the Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM) which represents ICT management in the public sector, and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE). The Awards' platinum sponsor is KPMG and also sponsoring were O2, Directgov and Jadu.

e-Government National Awards: The winners

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).
Winner Digital Birmingham Aston Pride Computers in the Home (CiTH) Project
Highly Commended RNIB Cymru Accessible Technology in Communities Project

2) Central e-Government excellence: Take-up & usage growth
(Delivering high & growing take-up of an e-enabled service through effective service delivery & marketing).
Winner Charity Commission Online Charity Returns
Highly Commended National Savings and Investments - My Lost Account & "Fetch" the dog - "retrieving" customer's lost money

3) Central e-Government excellence: Team
(Proven team-working or partnership activity which has delivered more than the sum of the parts).
Winner DVLA Driver Validation Service rolled out to HMCS Magistrates' Courts
Highly Commended Directgov Aligning Directgov, businesslink.gov.uk and NHS Choices

4) e-Government excellence: Leadership & Professionalism
(Leading e-Government strategies and professional development which contribute to achieving positive transformation).
Winner Improvement & Development Agency for Local Government (IDeA)
Communities of Practice for Local Government

5) e-Government excellence: Shared Services
(Proven shared services which have delivered effective services and efficiency gains).
Winner Disposal Services Authority [MoD]
www.edisposals.com [2] - Delivering sustainability via resale & recycling
Highly Commended People, Pay and Pensions Agency [MoD]
Creation of an HR Shared Services organisation for civilians in Defence

6) e-Government excellence: Innovation in strategy on a national level
Sponsored by Directgov
(Delivering innovative strategies which have demonstrated above-average results in improved services, processes and effectiveness within the transformational government agenda).
Winner NHS Connecting for Health and N3 Service Provider
Community of Interest Networks - which bring the health of the nation together.

7) e-Government excellence: Innovation in strategy at a local level
Sponsored by O2
(Delivering innovative strategies which have delivered above-average results in improved services, transformed processes & results, increased effectiveness).
Winner Hertfordshire Constabulary
Online Watch Link - enabling police to send urgent appeals & crime alerts to the public.
Highly Commended University of Bath For its dark fibre infrastructure through the city's waste water pipes for
simultaneous use of TV, Radio and Voice-Over-IP Telephony.

8) Local e-Government excellence: Take-up & usage growth
Sponsored by Jadu
(Ensuring high & growing take-up of an e-enabled service through effective service delivery & marketing).
Winner London Borough of Croydon E-Pay Cashless Schools Programme
Highly Commended DigiTV - Kirklees Council
'Looking Local' TV and mobile based local government services for the digitally excluded.

9) Local e-Government excellence: Team
(Proven team-working or partnership activity which has delivered more than the sum of the parts).
Winner Fife Council The Fife Child Protection Register

10) e-Government excellence in Learning & Skills
(Public sector online or electronic services which transform learning & skills outcomes).
Winner e-Learning for Healthcare: a partnership between Department of Health, professional bodies and the NHS
Highly Commended British Council TeachingEnglish - supporting the professional development of teachers globally as
an approach to global English Language Teaching sector reform and development.

11) e-Government excellence: For sustainable, 'green IT' or 'carbon-efficient services Sponsored by KPMG
(ICT & e-Government services which are helping the environment).
Winner British Council Carbon-efficient IT services & technology, deployed on a global basis.

Related links to this article:
The 68 finalists in the e-Government National Awards are detailed at this link [3]