Public awards body offers IT bonus marks

The UK government's public awards body, Charter Mark, has for the first time incorporated the use of new technology into its awards criteria.

Applicants for the 1999 round of awards will need to show how they are using technology to improve customer service, but only if IT is becoming a standard in comparable organisations.

The revised guidelines for applicants read: 'We are particularly interested in how you have used new technology innovations, wherever possible, to improve your services for users or value for money.'

Steve O'Leary, a Charter Mark senior assessor, admitted that technological take-up would eventually reach a point where larger service providers who don't keep up with technical advances would be cutting themselves off from award schemes.

"If a large local authority is not providing value for money because they've turned their faces against technology, then we wouldn't look favourably on that," he explained. "But it's no use requiring that, say, a women's refuge with two staff members has email and a Web site.