South Ayrshire Council News

The Council’s award winning web team - Stewart McCall, Michael Byers and Kirsty McIntyre. (Not in the picture Alison Glynn)

It is official – South Ayrshire Council's website is the top council site within Scotland!

This announcement was made in the Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM) Insight Better Connected website report on all council websites in the United Kingdom.

Councillor Robin Reid, Resource and Performance Portfolio Holder for the Council said: "For the first time ever our website has been rated in the top 20 out of all the United Kingdom websites, the only Scottish local authority listed. This is a phenomenal achievement.

"We are striving to be the most improved council in Scotland, so we will not rest on our laurels. We will take on board the findings of the report and they will form a key part of the continuing development of our website.

"This outstanding achievement reflects on the creative and innovative thinking of our website team and the dedicating way in which they carry out their duties. The help and co-operation they receive from services across the Council is helping them drive forward the development of the site and provide more information and services online."

The Council has been working hard to improve the way in which it delivers services and making it easier for customers to access information and pay for Council services.

A number of things were examined about each website including:

• Do people find answers quickly?
• Can people do business with the council by e-mail?
• Does a specific word or phrase generally point people to the information they want?
• Can people understand what the site says?
• Can people rely on the site to be available and working properly?

Most of the SOCITM members, from more than 500 organisations are from the public sector, including 98% of all UK local authorities. SOCITM is helping to drive forward the way in which ICT is being used to transform the way local authorities operate.