Knowsley Man Makes ‘IT’ Happen

Pictured: Knowsley IT Manager Gary Clawson, winner of the prestigious Public Servant of the Year Award

An education officer in Knowsley has beaten off stiff competition from across the country to win a coveted national award.

Gary Clawson, Information Communications Technology (ICT) Manager for Knowsley's Education and Lifelong Learning Department delivers state of the art ICT to improve the services the council offers to residents. Gary won the Public Servant of the Year 2001 Local Government Category in the national Public Finance Awards. The award is sponsored by Public Finance Magazine in partnership with the Cabinet Office. Gary was the only award winner in the North of England out of 11 awards.

Gary has played a key role in the implementation of the Community Grid for Learning, an ambitious project to make new technology available to more than 30,000 people and has also been instrumental in the development of the new City Learning Centres (CLC).

Gary has also led the drive to set up an education network linking all the authority's schools and giving then high quality access to ICT. The idea behind the network is to harness resources to increase educational attainment among pupils who will be at the forefront of accessing, sharing and creating information. Knowsley has more than twice the number of personal computers in schools than other authorities in the country.

Gary Clawson said, “I am really proud that the work I am involved with has been recognised by the Cabinet Office through this award. Knowsley is certainly leading the field in providing IT facilities to its residents and it is pleasing that the commitment and drive evident throughout the borough is paying dividends and has been noted nationally.”