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
Dumfries and Galloway Council, East Ayrshire Council, North Ayrshire Council and South Ayrshire Council have won a Municipal Journal award for SWConnects, which provides live online teaching for pupils sitting Higher exams in 40 secondary schools.
Wales
Wrexham Council has won an award from the Royal Town Planning Institute for its Digital Place Plan to use technology in managing and improving its city centre, adopted in early 2023.
Northern Ireland
Belfast City Council has allocated £50,000 to 29 local creative projects based on the results of a participatory budgeting scheme involving presentations and votes at a City Hall event.
Republic of Ireland
Longford County Council has run a science and technology event for more than 450 primary school children from 18 schools sponsored by Microsoft and other companies, as well as government and EU funding.
North-east England
Middlesbrough Council is among the region’s local authorities introducing online support for unpaid carers from Mobilise, through an agreement with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Care.
Yorkshire and the Humber
Calderdale Council has supported the opening of an industry 4.0 facility based at Calderdale College which is designed to help local engineering and manufacturing companies adopt technologies including artificial intelligence and robotics.
North-west England
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is working with data scientists in South Korea to create a digital twin of Liverpool’s bus network, allowing it to model the potential effects of route and fare changes.
East Midlands
North Northamptonshire Council has created a new post of executive director of strategy and change. Paid up to £151,033 the holder will be responsible for customer services, technology, communications, human resources, business intelligence and performance.
West Midlands
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has renewed its traffic management contract with Telent, which uses equipment at 129 sites to help manage congestion and major events such as football matches.
East of England
Three Rivers District Council and Buckinghamshire Council have been informed that new deputy prime minister Angela Rayner will decide whether to revive two data centre developments they had previously rejected.
South-east England
West Oxfordshire District Council will continue to close its call centre for non-urgent enquiries at 2pm while boosting capacity during lunchtimes, following a successful trial and increasing use of online services.
South-west England
Cornwall Council, Devon County Council, Plymouth City Council and Torbay Council will close their jointly-owned education and employment support service CSW Group. Three of the councils will move staff in-house while Cornwall is considering a new provider.
London
The City of London Corporation is publishing live air quality levels online and on display screens using Air Aware, a tool developed with government funding and the London boroughs of Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets.