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
West Lothian Council has experienced a suspected ransomware cyber attack on its education network. It used contingency plans to minimise disruption and has involved the Scottish Government and Police Scotland.
Wales
Cyngor Gwynedd will trial AI-based home monitoring technology that tracks patterns of behaviour provided by supplier Lilli, including movement, eating and bathroom activity, with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
Northern Ireland
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, which leads the Digital Transformation Flexible Fund on behalf of Northern Ireland’s councils, says this has offered support worth £2.5 million to more than 172 businesses to help them adopt emerging technologies.
Republic of Ireland
Leitrim County Council is running public meetings to discuss its Leitrim Digital Strategy 2025-2029, which aims to support economic development and improve people’s lives through use of digital technologies.
North-east England
Sunderland City Council is piloting smart flood risk management sensors in trash screens and gullies that could provide early warnings of flooding as well as helping to decide how often they should be cleaned.
Yorkshire and the Humber
North East Lincolnshire Council is introducing Care Friends, an app that uses a points-based referral system to recruit more foster carers, following its use in Wales since 2020 to recruit social workers.
North-west England
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust have launched a Family Hubs app for parents providing expert advice, information on local services and information based on due date or child’s age.
East Midlands
Lincolnshire County Council is running free online events for parents and carers about online safety, provided by its Stay Safe team who in the last academic year ran workshops for 50,000 local schoolchildren.
West Midlands
An innovation programme run by the West Midlands Combined Authority is trailing low-speed electric delivery vehicles on the University of Warwick’s campus and will explore the feasibility of making such vehicles legal for use on roads and cycle lanes.
East of England
Southend-on-Sea City Council is providing Connexin, which manages smart water meters run by Essex and Suffolk Water, with network capacity allowing the company to connect meters without the need for new mobile masts.
South-east England
Oxfordshire County Council is working with mobile infrastructure firm Cornerstone, street lighting provider Signify and network technology company Dense Air to implement small 4G and 5G network cells embedded in Oxford’s street lighting.
South-west England
Devon County Council has developed a digital vocational profiling tool providing careers advice to pupils in schools and colleges, with a focus on those with special educational needs and disabilities.
London
The London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) has worked with the Local Government Association on a guide to responsible buying of AI-based technology, aimed at helping councils in England comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty.
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.