Greenwich has once again been recognised for clear vision and excellent service at the Beacon Awards.
We won awards in two themes:
- Reducing Health Inequalities
- Improving Accessibility.
What are the Beacon Awards?
The Beacon Scheme was set up to share best practice in service delivery across local government.
Themes are selected for each round of the scheme by government ministers. The themes represent issues which are important in the day-to-day lives of the public and reflect key government priorities.
Beacon status is granted to those authorities who can demonstrate a clear vision, excellent services and a willingness to innovate within a theme. Awards are made by government ministers based on recommendations made by an independent advisory panel.
Reducing Health Inequalities - 'Outstanding'
In the Reducing Health Inequalities theme, our overall rating was Outstanding – the highest possible score.
We have introduced a number of innovative programmes to support health improvement and reduce health inequalities, which were praised by the Panel. This included:
- 'Health – Everyone's Business' course
- Jamie Oliver school dinners project
- community food co-operatives
- Kick the Habit anti-smoking campaign.
Progress was also noted on a range of health indicators including reduced infant mortality and closing the gap in female life expectancy.
The assessment summary states: "Greenwich is an exceptionally innovative authority with a clear and mature vision for tackling health inequalities as part of their wider approach to regeneration."
The Panel felt that "Greenwich would be an effective Beacon with much of value to share with other authorities".
Excellent improvement in accessibility
Greenwich scored Excellent overall in the Improving Accessibility theme – the second highest rating – for our "strong and interesting approach to improving accessibility for residents".
The Panel found an impressive list of actions which indicate that many aspects of accessibility in Greenwich are improving and often this is better than elsewhere in London.
These initiatives include:
- GLLaB – Greenwich’s Local Labour and Business service for employment opportunities which has been a factor in reducing the unemployment rate faster than the rest of London
- 'Out and About in London' guide, written in partnership with Transport for London for people with learning disabilities, which is now being used across London.
The report states:
"Successful initiatives place accessibility and inclusion at the top of Greenwich’s agenda, and are aimed at helping people to get back into work by supporting them in their accessibility needs."
Greenwich 'is leading the way'
Council Leader, Chris Roberts, said: "These awards celebrate the outstanding achievement of all best value authorities. I am delighted that once again Greenwich is among the group being recognised.
"Winning two themes is a demonstration that we are delivering excellence across a range of ours services. With a number of past successes in other themes these awards show, yet again, that Greenwich is leading the way in best practice."
Previous successes
This is the latest in a string of Beacon successes. In recent years, Greenwich has won the award for:
- Valuing People
- Affordable Housing
- Sustainable Tourism
- Removing Barriers to Work
- Delivering Cleaner Air.
Read more about Greenwich's Beacon Awards.
7 March 2008