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Innovation

This category contains 30 posts

Surrey drivers buy most electric cars in South East

A Surrey boom in people buying and making electric cars is set to fuel a groundbreaking partnership to boost the county’s economy and help the environment. Electric car ownership in Surrey has quadrupled in just two years to over 180 – the highest in the South East – and a summit on Tuesday will brainstorm … Continue reading

Online initiative set to offer firms deals worth hundreds of millions

Deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year will be offered to local firms with the launch of a new online initiative. SupplytoSurrey will list contracts being offered by Surrey County Council, Surrey Police, the University of Surrey and the county’s 11 boroughs and districts. The site is being spearheaded by the county council … Continue reading

Road repair software to save time and £100,000 a year

Surrey is set to get Google Street View-style software which will speed up road improvements and save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds. The county council is expected to save at least £100,000 and thousands of manpower hours per year when it becomes one of the first local authorities to introduce the software. Highways teams … Continue reading

Thrillers fuel near 100% rise in ebook lending

Surrey readers’ love of a thriller has fuelled a near 100% rise in ebook loans from libraries. The number of ebooks borrowed from Surrey County Council’s libraries in the first six months of this year climbed to 29,390 compared to 15,267 for the same period in 2013. This follows a growing trend which has seen online … Continue reading

Deals worth more than £100m won from new South East online initiative

Businesses have won deals worth more than £100 million since an online initiative was launched by two South East councils. More than 80 contracts totalling £102m have been clinched after Surrey and East Sussex created the SE Shared Services website 10 months ago. The news comes after West Sussex County Council joined the initiative, which makes … Continue reading

Surrey graduates celebrate pioneering Masters degree

Surrey County Council employees have completed the UK’s first Masters course in roads engineering. The two-year course was launched in 2012 by the county council with the SE7 group of councils and the University of Brighton to train up the next generation of public sector highways managers, and has sparked interest from other academic institutions … Continue reading

Surrey saving £72 million this year

Surrey County Council has set a goal of saving £72 million this year as the authority continues to face the challenges of increasing demand for services and dwindling funding. Reaching the annual target will propel savings for local taxpayers to £200m in three financial years alone. That sum would be enough to pay for the … Continue reading

Pioneering hi-tech home care for people with depression

People with severe depression will get care via a revolutionary app in the country’s first scheme of its kind being launched in Surrey. Adults who usually need to attend mental health clinics can now monitor their own progress with the help of a tablet computer and expert healthcare support via Skype-style video conferencing. Surrey County … Continue reading

New streetlights save enough energy to power Bagshot for year

New smart streetlights have already saved enough energy to power almost every home in Bagshot for a year. All 88,000 streetlights have now been replaced or upgraded by Surrey County Council as part of one of Britain’s biggest roll-outs of energy-efficient technology. The project, which has been completed a year ahead of schedule, has swapped … Continue reading

County council team named best in Europe

Surrey County Council’s shared services team has been named the best in Europe by a major industry body. The county council team was praised by the The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) for putting the customer at the heart of its service, driving cost savings and increasing efficiency and customer satisfaction. The team was … Continue reading

Credit card-sized device to keep vulnerable safe

A credit card-sized device is to be handed to people with dementia to help prevent them becoming one of the tens of thousands of adults with the condition who go missing across the country each year. It has been estimated that every year more than 40,000 people with dementia get lost for the first time. Around 800,000 … Continue reading

Streetlight scheme to finish a year ahead of schedule

A scheme to replace Surrey’s night-time orange glow with nearly 90,000 brighter white lights is set to finish a year ahead of schedule. Rapid progress means just a handful of roads are left to cover in one of the country’s biggest roll-outs of smart lamps. Surrey County Council’s programme sees all 88,000 streetlights replaced or upgraded … Continue reading

Guardian features successful launch of Surrey service

The Guardian has published an article about the successful launch by Surrey social workers of an independent organisation to provide care for deaf people and the hard of hearing. First Point was created with the help of the county council to give people greater control over their support. The story can be found on the … Continue reading

Surrey’s Roberts unveiled as Socitm president

Surrey County Council’s Nick Roberts has been unveiled as the new president of the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm). He was elected at the public sector IT representative body’s spring meeting. The IT Group Manager for partnerships and collaboration has been involved in a project to replace a host of networks in Surrey and … Continue reading

Innovation drive receives £100,000 boost

A £100,000 funding boost from Eric Pickles for innovative work being done by emergency services, health organisations and councils in Surrey and Sussex was today described as a “big vote of confidence”. The cash from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is aimed at helping the work to transform public services and … Continue reading

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