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This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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CoSLA Excellence Awards

08/06/2004

Councils across Scotland have won Excellence Awards - a scheme that recognises outstanding quality of service to the public.

Deputy Public Services Minister Tavish Scott congratulated the winners and shortlisted finalists at a ceremony last night.

For the third year, the Executive sponsored the "Delivering Excellence" award, which was won by North, East and South Ayrshire Councils for the Fit Ayrshire Babies project.

Fit Ayrshire Babies is a collaborative project which enables children, parents and carers to have increased opportunities to engage in and be aware of the benefits and importance of physical play, physical exercise and social interaction within a culture of enthusiasm, enjoyment and fun.

This is achieved by using and adding to the principles of the play@home exercise programme used successfully in Fife and adapted from Kiwi Babies in New Zealand.

Mr Scott said:

"These projects are good examples of joined-up working. That is an approach which puts the citizen first. I would like to encourage local government to continue to work in partnership with local people to deliver more responsive public services.

"We need to learn from each other. We must take the good practice stories from your projects and share them with all 32 local authorities, and across the wider public sector in Scotland.

"As you know, the Scottish Executive is working in partnership with COSLA and SOLACE to develop the Improvement Service. This is a very exciting and challenging new service and I very much look forward to all local authorities playing an active role with the Improvement Service. I include both elected members and officers in this challenge.

"This is the third year that the Executive has sponsored the "Delivering Excellence" award and the Fit Ayrshire Babies project is another perfect example of the kind of project this award was intended to acknowledge. It shows how local authorities can work together to the benefit of the people of their local communities."

The other award winners were:

  • Service Improvement and Customer Needs: Stirling Council - Stirling Community Schools
  • Quality of Life: South Lanarkshire Council - A71/A72 Garrion Bridge Improvement
  • Health Improvement: West Lothian Council - Strathbrock Partnership
  • Lifelong Learning: West Lothian Council - Homecare Personal Development Awards
  • Innovative Use of Technology: West Lothian - Picasso
  • Best Team Award: Glasgow City Council - Glasgow Translation and Interpreting Service
  • Chair's Award: Scottish Borders Council - The Computer Bus

Page updated: Saturday, July 17, 2004