North West E-Goverment Group (NWEGG) - Relaunch
28 November 2011
A PUBLIC sector organisation, set up nine years ago to
help local authorities in the North West to improve their
e-Government performance, has been relaunched.
The North West E-Government Group (NWEGG) has announced that it
will now be known as iNetwork and plans to open up its membership
from North West public sector organisations, to a national
audience.
The announcement was made on 23 November 2011 at the
NWEGG Annual Conference in Manchester by Steven Pleasant, Chair of
NWEGG and Chief Executive of Tameside MBC.
He said: "The change is long overdue. The concept of
E-Government' is outdated and is perceived as being solely an ICT
concept associated with local government. iNetwork reflects much
more effectively what NWEGG has become.
"NWEGG has evolved into an organisation which promotes
improvement and efficiency by involving, influencing, inspiring
and, most importantly, networking.
"Public sector organisations in the region have benefitted
enormously from what NWEGG has offered. Now, it's time for iNetwork
to provide the same level of support and expertise to organisations
wider afield."
iNetwork provides member organisations with a range of
programmes which are aimed at enabling them to deliver more
innovative and cost-effective services to their users and
communities.
One of its programmes, started under NWEGG, has been used to
inform the current Welfare Reform Bill which is going through
Parliament. The programme has established the basis for promoting
data-sharing between DWP and councils in order to make the
completion of common financial assessments by social care teams,
more efficient and cost-effective.
Around £80M could be saved nationally on the costs of councils
carrying out common financial assessments, should the bill,
including the data-sharing aspect, be approved.
Phil Swan, iNetwork Partnership Director, commented: "Peer
networks are at the heart of what we do. And we'll now be doing it
as iNetwork.
"Networks are absolutely critical to successful improvement.
Adoption of new ideas is driven almost entirely by consensus among
peers. iNetwork recognises this and will use it to shape what we
deliver and how we deliver it for our members."
Note :
iNetwork is funded through membership subscription, corporate
membership and grants. It is based at Tameside Council Offices in
Ashton-under-Lyne.