Council wins award for going paperless

Swindon Borough Council has been handed an award for efforts to streamline services for residents.

Published: Friday, 27th July 2018

The Council’s bid to drastically reduce its use of paper was given special recognition at this year’s Public Sector Paperless Awards.

The award ceremony took place in Manchester last Thursday (19 July) and the Council came out on top in the Management and Culture Project of the Year category.

The Council aims to move from handling 15m paper documents a year to a paper-light one million a year by April 2021, and this award is a significant step in the right direction.

Cllr Keith Williams, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Corporate and Customer Services, said: “We are committed to transforming the way the Council works to make our services more efficient for the people we serve, and this award is evidence of the good progress being made.

“We have already seen a council-wide reduction of 40% in printing volumes in the first year. This is the equivalent of saving more than 410 trees and has exceeded our first year target of a 25% reduction.

"I would like to offer my congratulations to all Council staff whose dedication to the Swindon Programme has made this possible.”

The Swindon Programme was launched in October 2017 and aims to transform Council services to improve efficiency, as well as saving £30m by 2020.

A key part of this is digitisation, which will allow the Council to provide residents with the information and support they need in a way that is convenient and cost effective.

The Council is currently seeking feedback from residents on the Customer Access Strategy, which aims to move more services online. Residents will then be able to access services digitally so they can report potholes, order new recycling boxes or complete transactions more easily.

 

Swindon Borough Council news RSS feed