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
Dundee City Council has launched MyBins, an app for smartphones and tablets which includes push notifications for service changes, seasonal advice and personalised collection calendars and reminders, based on what has worked elsewhere in Scotland.
Wales
Denbighshire County Council is providing free support to residents to help them set up as paid ‘micro-providers’ of home care and support for older and disabled people, with 52 signed up so far.
Northern Ireland
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council has run a six-week intergenerational digital inclusion programme that brought together 10 people aged 50 or over and 10 year 13 ICT A-level students.
Republic of Ireland
Dublin City Council has joined the international Partnership for Healthy Cities to help gather data that will evaluate the city’s 310 kilometre network of walking and cycling paths.
North-east England
North of Tyne Combined Authority is funding one-year subscriptions to WelcoMe, an online service designed to help tourism businesses support visitors with access needs, including through virtual reality accessibility tours.
Yorkshire and the Humber
Hull City Council has told tenants to register for a new app, myHousing. This is replacing the previously-used My Housing Online app which had 16,000 users, more than half the city’s tenants.
North-west England
Wirral Council has installed video kiosks at its libraries in Birkenhead, Eastham, Heswall and Moreton for booked virtual appointments with council advisors, with library staff able to provide support, scan documents and take payments.
East Midlands
Derby City Council will develop the use of artificial intelligence copilots to help staff in three service areas work more effectively, having signed a £7 million contract with provider ICS.AI.
West Midlands
Birmingham City Council’s problems implementing Oracle financial software could have led it to issue a section 114 notice regardless of the city’s need to settle equal pay claims, a University of Sheffield academic has written.
East of England
Hertfordshire County Council saw more than 800 trips booked in the first few weeks of its HertsLynx on-demand bus service in Dacorum, which can be booked through an app, online or by phone.
South-east England
Canterbury City Council, Thanet District Council and Dover District Council in Kent involved the National Cyber Security Centre following a cyber incident in January which affected some services on their websites.
South-west England
Cornwall Council has awarded PricewaterhouseCoopers a three-year, £3.5 million contract to act as its digital future strategic partner from May, including the setting up of a transformation programme.
London
Wandsworth Council and the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames are piloting automated outbound calls to residents receiving health and social care, including to provide advice on the use of council-provided tablet computers.