Open to all local authorities across the country and their public sector partners, the awards celebrate “excellence in local government frontline services across the UK” – showcasing that they are “actively implementing innovative ideas, supporting continuous improvement, and developing new strategies to deliver local services.”
Crowned Best Service Team of the Year: Catering during a ceremony at APSE’s annual seminar last week, Cityserve beat five other local authorities by demonstrating how it had turned the previously “loss-making service around from the brink of being decommissioned to returning sustained income to Birmingham City Council, as well as providing excellent value for money for the schools and citizens of Birmingham,” it said.
Head of service, Dale Wild said: “To retain the Best Service Team of the Year award against tough competition is incredible news. To win this award once was awesome, but to retain it for a second year is huge.
“At Cityserve we are all about the kids, and the fact we are proven to have the best service team of the year just goes to show we really do put them first.”
Putting its win down to a number of measures, including: striking better deals with food providers, developing unique products and services, and building a reputation as a social caterer that “focuses on stakeholders, not shareholders,” Cityserve’s development kitchen was also cited as an example of how the company “engages with students to design healthy menus.”
Ken Lyon, head of commercialism at Birmingham City Council, added: “It is almost unheard of to win the same award in consecutive years and reflects the consistent, market leading and ongoing progress the Cityserve team is making.”