COSLA Excellence Awards

The 2012 COSLA Excellence Awards Short Leet

Adam — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:50:08 +0000

The COSLA Excellence Awards celebrate the very best in Scottish local government. Our emphasis is on rewarding the most innovative and passionate developments, and on recognising projects that can demonstrate excellent service delivery to communities.

The judges have been working hard to select the applications that they will bring forward to the final stage of the awards. They have now made their decisions, and have identified a short leet of 3 applications from each of the categories.

These applications, our Silver Award winners, can be viewed here:

Representatives from each of these projects have been invited to present their applications to the judging panel on 31 January and 1 February 2012.

The overall winners will then be announced at the COSLA Excellence Awards Ceremony on 16 February. For more details about the conference and awards ceremony, visit Great Expectations: The 2012 COSLA and Improvement Service Annual Conference.

All applicants to the COSLA Excellence Awards will receive written feedback about their submission. Short leeted applicants will receive this now, with all other applicants normally receiving feedback after the Awards Ceremony.

Record number of applications received for the 2012 Awards

Adam — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:00:45 +0000

The 2012 COSLA Excellence Awards look set to encourage and share even more excellence across the local government community. A record 228 applications have been submitted to the 2012 Awards. Moreover, we’re delighted that more organisations than ever before are choosing to take part in the process.

Teams of expert assessors from across Scotland are now working hard to identify a long leet of the top ten applications from each category that showcases and celebrates innovative and creative approaches that are making a real difference to local communities across the country.

Our expert assessors will announce their long leet by the middle of November 2011. They will then hand over to the judges to identify three finalists for each category who will be invited to COSLA to present their projects.

Overall winners will be announced at our Awards Ceremony in February 2012.

In the meantime keep checking our site for more information and news.

Give us your feedback !

Adam — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:33:16 +0000

We want views on the 2011 Excellence Awards.

This online survey will only take a few minutes to complete and we will use the results to make sure that the 2012 awards are even better. Last year we made a range of changes based on the information you gave us so it really is worth the time.

Click here to take the survey if you were an award applicant

Click here to take the survey if you were an assessor

Welcome to the COSLA Excellence Awards

Adam — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 09:16:13 +0000

The COSLA Excellence Awards celebrate the very best in Scottish local government. Our emphasis is on rewarding the most innovative and passionate developments, and on recognising projects that demonstrate excellent service delivery to communities.

Across the country, in rural and urban communities, visionary approaches are being applied to local issues and these are the kinds of projects the COSLA Excellence Awards will celebrate. We want to use the Excellence Awards to find those who are setting new standards for excellence and to help spread their good practice.

Public services have had real success in addressing Scotland’s most significant problems, providing high quality education, health and social care, justice, employment and protecting the environment. However, more needs to be done to ensure that high quality public services fully translate into better outcomes for everyone in Scotland. That need is all the more acute at a time when resources are reducing and demand is growing quickly. In these difficult circumstances, we must do all that we can to encourage and share excellence.

The COSLA Excellence Awards provide a unique opportunity to highlight the work going on in your community by celebrating projects which are dynamic and innovative; which help improve collaboration and improve outcomes; have the potential to be rolled out across the country and beyond, and make a real and meaningful difference to people’s quality of life and the communities we live in.

If you have a project that has made a difference, we want to hear about it.

The COSLA Excellence Awards Archive 2011

Adam — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:15:35 +0000

Our 2011 archive contains more information about the projects that were recognised by the Excellence Awards in 2011, including video links, promotional photos, and the application forms themselves.

Click on one of the links below to get more information. If you would like any more information about a project, please contact Adam Stewart (adam@cosla.gov.uk, 0131 474 9275).

Bronze Award Winners 2011

Gold Award Winners 2011

Silver Award Winners 2011

Special Award Winners 2011

The COSLA Excellence Awards Archive 2010

Adam — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:12:13 +0000

Our 2010 archive contains more information about the projects that were recognised by the Excellence Awards in 2010, including video links, promotional photos, and the application forms themselves.

Click on one of the links below to get more information. If you would like any more information about a project, please contact Adam Stewart (adam@cosla.gov.uk, 0131 474 9275).

Bronze Award Winners 2010

Gold Award Winners 2010

Silver Award Winners 2010

Special Awards 2010

The COSLA Excellence Awards Archive 2009

Adam — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:10:36 +0000

Our 2009 archive contains more information about the projects that were recognised by the Excellence Awards in 2009, including video links, promotional photos, and the application forms themselves.

Click on one of the links below to get more information. If you would like any more information about a project, please contact Adam Stewart (adam@cosla.gov.uk, 0131 474 9275).

2009 Archive

2009 Award Winners

Press Release: Local Government Excellence Awarded

Adam — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:25:21 +0000

The 2011 COSLA Excellence Awards have honoured eight Scottish councils for outstanding quality of service to the public by Scottish Local Government.

Clackmannanshire Council, Renfrewshire Council, Glasgow City Council, West Lothian Council and East Ayrshire Council all took first place in the main categories of the Awards. South Lanarkshire Council scooped the Best Team award while the Chairman’s Award went to Fife Council. North Lanarkshire Council was recognised for Delivering Excellence by the Scottish Government.

Click here for the full list of winners

COSLA President Councillor Pat Watters CBE, who chaired the judging panel, described the entries for the awards this year as truly inspiring:

“The COSLA Excellence Awards showcase and celebrate the very best of Scottish Local Government. The sheer impact being achieved by these projects is proof that Scotland’s local services are in great shape.”

Councillor Watters continued: “Every one of our finalists have set new standards for excellence, and demonstrated innovative solutions to complex issues. Their results speak for themselves, but above all else, I have been struck by the commitment, enthusiasm and utter passion that council workers and our partners have for delivering better outcomes for their communities.

“All those who took part- and we had a record 220 entries this year- can be proud of their achievements. The Scottish local government family faces major challenges over the next few years, and now more than ever, the COSLA Excellence Awards have a vital part to play in helping take forward initiatives which make our services more responsive, efficient and effective.”

“Indeed, at a time when there is a huge amount of interest in public sector reform, our winners provide further evidence that the future of excellent public services lies in focussing on better outcomes for the people of Scotland, not in a pre-occupation with structure as the sole route to better public services.”

March 11, 2011

COSLA Chair’s Award- Fife Council- Safer Walking for People with Dementia

Adam — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:15:59 +0000

People with dementia living in their own homes in the community are frequently considered to be at risk of wandering and the police regularly assist in searches for people who have wandered or become lost and disorientated. The Fife Telecare Development Programme (TDP) promotes the use of Telecare to support frail and vulnerable people to remain in their own homes and communities. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) enable the emergency location of a person who has become lost or disorientated. This project piloted the use of GPS systems to assist people with dementia to continue activities independently whilst reassuring their carers.

Download the application form: OTW 11 Safer Walking for People with Dementia

Scottish Government Award Winner: North Lanarkshire Council – NLC Breakfast Clubs

Adam — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:06:44 +0000

School breakfast clubs contribute in achieving corporate priorities significantly Promoting health, wellbeing and care of children of primary school age and the promotion of social inclusion.

Studies carried out by advisory group continyou on behalf of Kellogg’s children’s eating habits have shown that, in Scotland, around 11% leave home to start the school day without eating or drinking anything.

Separate studies have shown that a healthy, nutritious breakfast impacts on a child’s ability to begin the learning process and to the levels of concentration required to maintaining this effectively.

As part of the New Community School pilot programme, a breakfast service was established in Castlehill Primary School, Wishaw in 2000 as part of the school’s development plan to raise levels of attainment, reduce non-attendance and late-coming, and improve the health of the children by giving them a nourishing and positive start to the school day.

Additional services were then funded by South Coatbridge and Motherwell North Social Inclusion Partnerships and a successful bid to the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund enabled the rollout of services to additional schools within the SIMD (Scottish Indicators of Multiple Deprivation) 6 – 10% data zones.

In September 2004 the Education Committee approved the development of a sustainable breakfast service in primary schools. This decision was based on local and national evaluations and built on the existing good practice from the pilot schools.

Download the application form: THI026 NLC Breakfast Clubs