A supplementary edition of nations and regions news, which appears in Socitm’s annual magazine, In Our View, with recent stories from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and every region of England.
Scotland
Aberdeen City Council is moving its telecare services from analogue to digital landlines as one of 17 early adopters across Scotland, with the aim of moving more than 13,000 users to a digital service by the end of this year.
Wales
All 22 Welsh local authorities, led by Caerphilly County Borough Council, have agreed a £200 million commercial agreement covering technology for councils and schools including networks and computing infrastructure, end-user devices and educational tools.
Northern Ireland
Belfast City Council-led and government-funded Belfast 5G Innovation Region competition has awarded £270,000 to logistics company Manfreight, immersive technology studio Retinize and ferry operator Stena Line to support innovative use of 5G technology.
Republic of Ireland
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council have launched a campaign promoting the public benefits and safety record of telecoms infrastructure including mobile network infrastructure and fibre broadband.
North-east England
Gateshead Council has contacted people whose personal data was accessed during a cyber incident on 8 January, although the council says customer bank details were not accessed and its website and email are safe to use.
Yorkshire and the Humber
North East Lincolnshire Council is trialling a new version of System C’s Liquidlogic children’s social care software that allows social workers to see near-live information about safeguarding cases.
North-west England
Bolton Council-led Manchester West coroners service hopes to replace three-quarters of physical autopsies with non-invasive digital equivalents that use new radiography equipment at Royal Bolton Hospital, providing a quicker and more dignified service.
East Midlands
Derbyshire County Council is using AWS’ Simply Translate service to provide automated translations of material on its website with its director of digital noting that English is not the main language of 8.9% of the county’s population.
West Midlands
City of Wolverhampton Council is working with West Midlands 5G, supplier Alcove and evaluator Rethink Partners to install technology that supports adult social care in hundreds of homes then measure its usefulness.
East of England
Essex County Council, Southend City Council, Thurrock Council, local NHS organisations and social care providers have set up a shared care record service that allows professionals to see key information on health history, allergies and medication.
South-east England
Milton Keynes Council has produced a smart city action plan that includes measures focused on climate change, public health and making public services more cost-efficient, as well as continuing to support innovation through testing of new technologies.
South-west England
Bristol City Council has introduced an online form system that allows users to send questions and statements to councillors during public meetings, following a trial in November and December last year.
London
Ealing Council reckons use of an artificial intelligence system saves social workers 40% of their time by recording and summarising conversations with service users, according to its leader, Cllr Peter Mason.
For links to press release pages of local authorities in the UK, Republic of Ireland and Crown Dependencies, view Socitm’s local authority press release directory.