It's been an award winning time for Staffordshire County Council.

Double Success: (Top)Peter Kear with Jeremy Vine, (Bottom) MJ Award.

The authority's Community and Learning Partnerships have wo n the 'Best 
Achievement in Children's Services' award at the Municipal Journal (MJ) Local Government Awards 2008. The MJ is local government's leading weekly news title.

Held at London's Hilton Park Hotel, the event was hosted by Channel 4's news broadcaster John Snow.

Staffordshire's Community and Learning Partnerships have formed a core part of the programme for integrating children's services and have transformed children's services in the county. It has involved the creation of 34 partnerships running multi agency teams in schools, children's centres and other community venues.

And in another awards ceremony county council computer wizard Peter Kear has been crowned Council Worker of the Year.

He received the accolade in the Innovation category at the Local Government Association (LGA) conference at Bournemouth.

Forty-six year old Peter won the award for inventing a computer "patch" that is helping save the authority £40,000 in electricity bills as well as helping fight global warming.

Peter who lives in Stafford realised the potential waste caused by staff forgetting or being unable to switch off their PC's when they leave work. So he adapted existing software to scan the authority's 7,500 computers and automatically switch off any left on overnight.

Leader of Staffordshire County Council County Councillor John Taylor said: "We are delighted to have won both these awards  - it just shows how dedicated our employees are to making a difference to the services this authority delivers and I am really pleased to see their hard work pay off."

Last Modified: 25/09/2008 10:53:05
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