Sunderland City Council wins Britain Works Challenge and £10M of IT Skills Training

Britain Works is Microsoft’s initiative to provide the digital skills and training to help 500,000 unemployed people back into work. The Britain Works Challenge is a competition for local authorities to propose community-based initiatives and win a share of £18m of ICT training and skills development resources.

From 34 local authorities that entered the Britain Works Challenge 3 finalists were selected: Milton Keynes Council, Barnsley Council and Sunderland Council. All three finalists presented their business case to an independent judging panel comprising leading figures from DCLG, SOLACE, SOCITM and Microsoft.

Congratulations go to Sunderland City Council for emerging as outright winners of the Britain Works Challenge. As the chair of the judges’ panel, David Clark, Chief Executive of SOLACE, remarked “There could have been several councils named as finalists, as the standard of entries was outstanding”. The judges did however come to a unanimous decision on the winner.

Congratulations to all the finalists. We are looking forward to more news on their success in rolling out the ICT skills and training from their participation in the Britain Works Challenge to help improve the skills and ICT confidence of more of their citizens.

Posted by Mike