A partnership of nine North Yorkshire councils, including City of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council, has received funding from central government of £1.05million over two years for their ICT partnership to improve Access to Services. The funding was announced by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and is aimed at supporting councils in delivering all their services electronically by 2005.

The nine North Yorkshire councils are working in partnership to improve access to council services for residents across the county and the partnership is about to outline their requirements to a number of bidders. The partnership will help establish an integrated 'front office' across all the local authorities, enabling services to be delivered over the telephone, through the internet and through one-stop shops.

Councillor Dave Merrett, acting leader of City of York Council, said; "This is great news for all the councils in North Yorkshire. Our plans for delivering council services electronically have taken an important step forward, ensuring we reach the rapidly increasing number of people who use technology. The project will ultimately deliver benefits for all residents, making it easier to contact the council and use our services, no matter where you are in the county."

Dave Shaw, project leader, said: "The North Yorkshire ICT Partnership had already been chosen as one of a small number of projects to receive Pathfinder status, which has already given us support. This funding is obviously great news and will enable us to complete what is a very innovative and complex procurement process and make a significant contribution to the implementation."

The project follows on from City of York Council's Access to Services Project, ATS, which carried out a best value review of how customers access council services. The project outlined a future vision which was for all council customers to be able to access services quickly, simply, and effectively. Access would be focussed around customer needs and give choices of the most suitable method and place for each customer and different type of service and transaction.

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