The judging panel selected C-ME from 29 nominees for this year's award because it offers clear and measurable benefits to citizens, public sector bodies and practitioners.

C-Me was developed to improve the delivery of services to the children of West Lothian through the development of a shared information system between West Lothian Council Social Services, NHS Lothian, West Lothian Education Schools and Services, Lothian and Borders Police and the Scottish Children's Reporters Ofice. C-me enables secure sharing of concerns and information electronically between all professionals providing children's services plus delivery of the components of electronic shared assessment. Within a clear framework of consent, C-Me also facilitates integrated assessment by supporting and proving the concept of an electronic shared assessment.

The announcement was made at Socitm's annual conference in Harrogate, and was presented by Charles Ward, chief operating officer of Intellect and chair of the awards judging panel.

Commenting on the winning project Charles Ward said, 'In their eleventh year, the Local Government IT Excellence Awards continue to recognise local government projects which, through the innovative and effective use of technology, deliver excellence in public services.'

He continued, 'As technology has improved over the last eleven years, so have the quality of entries, and I'm happy to say that this year's winner continues that trend. C-ME is an example of true IT excellence, using technology to share information between practitioners, and ultimately to deliver a higher standard of care for citizens.'

Barry Evans, local government manager at sponsors Dell UK commented, 'These awards are all about recognising the value that ICT can deliver within local government. Dell congratulates C-ME for demonstrating how technology can be optimised to improve the delivery of community services where it matters most – for children, the citizens of tomorrow.'

From Dell's perspective, the finalists demonstrated they had harnessed technology to fundamentally change the way they communicate and engage with the community. This is where the value of technology in local authorities can really be recognised – by making a difference in the life of citizens.'

Ian Platt, managing director of sponsors Ericom Software, commented, 'The West Lothian Community Health and Care Partnerships is a well deserved winner of the Local Government IT Excellence Awards. The C-Me system demonstrates the real value that IT can make in improving the welfare of local communities and assisting government agencies to share resource and information to ultimately improve service delivery for their communities'

The other winners commended for their individual successes and contributions were:

Runner Up – Hertfordshire County Council - eAdmissions
eAdmissions, a National Project led by Hertfordshire County Council is succeeding in delivering a new e-service. From September 2006, citizens in England will be able to apply for their child's school place online. In 2005, 58% of Hertfordshire parents applied online proving this a popular service channel.

eAdmissions is delivering a supportive and collaborative programme framework to assist each of the 150 local authority project teams, including coordinating issue and risk management, conducting research, providing recommendations for best practice, and facilitating experience sharing and supplier management. Most importantly, the Project has maintained excellent two-way communication throughout including the provision of implementation and marketing support help desks.

Highly Commended – East Riding of Yorkshire Council - BEARS
In a drive to improve customer access, usability and increase efficiency for the management of all events, facilities and activities, East Riding of Yorkshire Council embarked on an ambitious programme to adopt a standard delivery vehicle, named BEARS (Booking Events And Resource Systems). The programme also needed to address access by community based partners and facilitate the ‘exercise referral programme' that will deliver a groundbreaking partnership between the primary care trust (PCT) and the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Related links to this article:
Intellect [1]
Socitm [2]
Solace [3]

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Enter the e-Government National Awards 2006 online
Nominations are now open in 11 categories in the e-Government National Awards 2006 [4], and entry is free. The Awards recognise and praise the best strategies, achievements, teams and individuals in UK e-Government. It's simple to enter your e-Government initiative or team online - up until 9am on the 9th October. The Awards will be presented at a prestigious dinner at the Savoy in London in January 2007.

The Awards are supported by the Cabinet Office e-Government Unit [5], the Office of Government Commerce [6], the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm) [7], and SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers) [8]. Platinum sponsor is KPMG [9], and also a sponsor is SunGard [10].