Revolution events appointed to deliver the prestigious Beacon Awards Ceremony as the perfect platform for beacon authorities to shine.

Revolution Events, a specialist organiser of innovative business events, has been appointed by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) to produce the annual Beacon Awards Ceremony.

The Beacon Awards Round 8 ceremony, apex of the local government Beacon Scheme, recognises local authorities’ clear vision, outstanding achievement and service excellence. Attended by relevant Ministers, the event will see the Minister for Local Government announcing the winning authorities of each of the Beacon Awards themes to an audience of over 600 people. The “Oscar-style” ceremony will be followed by a gala dinner extravaganza and it is due to take place in London at the Royal Horticultural Halls on the 20th of March 2007.

For the first time, the Beacon Awards ceremony is set to run as a self-funding event, with sponsorship support being raised by Revolution Events amongst leading industry suppliers. Each Beacon theme sponsor will benefit from unique exposure and will be working closely with the Beacon authority in the dissemination of Best Practice for that theme throughout the year.

Revolution Events has been selected by IDeA after an exhaustive tendering process, where the company has been able to demonstrate its superior experience, commitment and innovation in both event production and sales. Marianne Hood, Chair of the Beacon Advisory Panel, said, “Over the past eight years, the Beacon Scheme has been going from strength to strength and we needed a solid partner for the production of the Awards event.  We worked closely with Revolution Events at the Local eGov Expo conferences, and we found them a perfect culture fit for us. Their enthusiasm and innovative thinking, combined with extensive experience within local government and their ability to generate event revenues were the factors that made us choose Revolution Events over the other tendering companies.”

Notes to Editor:

About the Beacon Scheme:         

The Beacon Scheme has been set up to disseminate best practice in service delivery across local government.

Ten themes are selected for each round of the scheme by government ministers. The themes represent issues which important in the day-to-day lives of the public and reflect key government priorities. Themes are announced one or two years in advance and some themes will be repeated in future rounds.

Current themes are: Electoral services; Emergency planning; Healthy schools; Increasing voluntary and community sector service delivery; Neighbourhood and community champions: the role of elected members; Preventing and tackling anti-social behaviour; Delivering cleaner air; Promoting financial inclusion and tackling over-indebtedness; Promoting sustainable communities through the planning process; School improvement.

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.

Authorities hold beacon status for a year, during which time the IDeA works with them to facilitate the sharing of good practice through a series of learning activities.

The role of government and the IDeA

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) are the policy lead but the programme is managed by the IDeA under a service level agreement. While DCLG Ministers have final discretion over which authorities are awarded beacon status, they are guided by the advisory panel.

The IDeA is responsible for managing the scheme and the administration behind the application and assessment processes. The IDeA also assigns consultants to work directly with beacons to facilitate the sharing of information with other local authorities.

The IDeA works on the development of the scheme on behalf of both DCLG and the advisory panel and periodically puts forward suggestions for change. The IDeA is also responsible for the marketing and organisation of the award ceremony and learning exchanges.

For more information please visit: http://www.idea.gov.uk

About Revolution Events Ltd:     

Revolution Events is one of the UK’s leading organisers of focused business forums, working primarily within the technology, government and professional sectors. Since 1999, Revolution have organised more than 120 business-to-business events for senior decision-makers - both under their own brands and for major clients such as Sage Software, Microsoft, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now the Department of Communities & Local Government) and LloydsTSB.

Press Contacts:        

Maria Boxley, Marketing Manager, Revolution Events Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)1732 367007  /  Email: maria@revolution-events.com

Paul Bailey, PR Officer, IDeA
Tel: +44(0)20 7296 6529 / Email: paul.bailey@idea.gov.uk