The latest news from Digital Dorset.
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Group of men and women bathed in a red light, one woman in the foreground holds a piece of paper representing an award. Everyone in the photo is grouped together smiling and posing for camera.
Dorset Council’s digital planning system wins national recognition
Improving our online planning and building control services has been praised by national judges.
Dorset Council’s Planning Convergence and Transformation team were finalists in the national MJ awards in the ‘Digital Transformation’ category, and we’re thrilled to share we were highly commended.
The award recognised how the
team integrated six different planning systems from the former district councils into one MasterGov system. This system, operated by software company DEF, covers planning, building control, land charges, and GIS mapping.
This transformation of the services allowed them to enhance the experience for our customers and address any backlogs.
But that’s not all! Building on this success, and thanks to government funding, we’re working with DEF to design and develop a brand-new digital planning platform. We’ll keep you updated on the progress of that here.
Celebrating our wonderful digital champions
In June we celebrated national Volunteers Week by saying thank to a very special group of people who are helping Dorset residents get online – our volunteer digital champions.
We invited our champions, who provide digital advice in libraries and community centres across the county, came together to enjoy a tour of the Roman town house in Dorchester, followed by a cream tea.
We wanted to say a massive thank you to all of them for giving up their valuable time to help our residents make the most of the digital world.
If you, or someone you know, needs help with anything digital, find out where your nearest digital champion session is by calling 01305 221048 or visit our website.
Find a digital champion
Image of red sim card document pouches. Text overlaying reads, Struggling to afford to be online or use a smartphone?
Are you struggling to afford to be online or use a smartphone? Then help is available.
We have teamed up with Good Things Foundation to provide free SIM cards that last for 6 months. These SIM cards offer up to 20GB of data per month to individuals who cannot afford data and have limited or no access to the internet.
Eligibility Criteria:
• Recipients must be aged 18 or over.
• Must come from a low-income household.
Find out more and apply
Wessex Internet, Milton Abbas Broadband Story
Government funding helps bring full fibre broadband to rural Dorset
With its long line of stunning Georgian thatched cottages, Milton Abbas is one of Dorset’s most pretty and well-known villages – and now, thanks to government funding, it’s also one of the best connected.
Blandford-based Wessex Internet was able to connect the village to lightning fast broadband thanks to the ‘Gigabit Voucher Scheme’ a national fund to connect rural areas.
The company had to use its special machinery to connect these hard to reach properties in a way that respected the sensitive nature of the landscape.
You can find out more by watching this fascinating video of how 18^th century Milton Abbas was brought into the 21^st century.
Wessex Internet is currently overseeing two government contracts called Project Gigabit. To find out if your premises is included go to Project Gigabit Dorset & South Somerset | Wessex Internet
Image of two children back to back on school steps, playing on tablet. Text above in bunting reads: Dorset Coding Day
Calling all home schoolers - Dorset Coding day open to children in all education settings
We have had a brilliant response so far from Dorset schools signing up to be part of Dorset Coding Day.
But the event taking place in October is not limited to those in school. Dorset Coding Day is an inclusive event for children in all education setting including home-schooled children.
The team at Digital Dorset are joining forces with BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole) Council and Barclays Digital Eagles
to run this event.
Following an activity provided by Barclays Digital Eagles, children will create a simple and easy-to-follow coastal-themed coding project.
The session will last approximately one hour and will cover lots of elements of
programming. Coding has lots of benefits for children including problem solving, logical thinking and encouraging creativity and collaboration.
Sign up for Dorset Coding Day
Image of 6 cartoon people with no facial features wearing blue bottoms and orange tops, with speech bubbles above their heads.
Dorset businesses urged to have their say on what digital skills they need from employees
Did you know that today, only 54% of us are able to do all twenty Essential Digital Skills for Work?
Dorset Council works with a charity, FutureDotNow
, developed by government and industry.
Dorset employers are urged to complete the survey below and help validate this framework. The more this framework works for you and your employees, the more we’ll be able to create products and services that will help us collectively narrow the digital skills gap.
Take the survey
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