"I WAS appointed as programme manager for the eAdmissions National Project in April 2004. This was a central government initiative, led by a local authority (LA), Hertfordshire County Council. The experience led me to believe that central government funding and strategic input – coupled with LA expertise and commitment – can provide a successful model for delivery of local services.

School admissions is a local service managed by 150 LAs. LAs vary in political leadership and can also have different priorities, issues and demo-graphics. Despite these differences, LAs experience common challenges in trying to deliver efficient, effective services to their local communities.

When a national project arose to transform the school admissions process by putting applications online, Hertfordshire was selected as lead authority because we already had experience of online school admissions. Hertfordshire’s project team, working with other early-adopter LAs, researched the barriers to success and investigated the benefits.

By working closely with all LAs and addressing issues as varied as the digital divide, legal concerns, system functionali-ty and usability, good practice was defined so that each LA did not have to reinvent the wheel.

The project provided the support and guidance LAs needed to achieve success. Our success was demonstrated by 150 LAs delivering the service on time, and with an unprecedented national take-up of 18 per cent of parents using the online service in the first year. While Hertfordshire and other LAs had the expertise and local knowledge to develop these systems, national success could not have been achieved without central government.

Three central government agencies were primarily involved: Communities and Local Government provided funding and set up the strategy framework, targets and timescales; the Department for Education and Skills was responsible for school admissions policy and provided strategic support – both of these groups had influence and contacts within LAs that proved invaluable; and the Office of Government Commerce also assisted the project at critical times with strong supplier management.

Ultimately, central government, local government and commercial suppliers all worked in successful partnership to deliver online school admissions and this cooperative model is replicable for other local systems being brought to a national audience."

Amanda Derrick is the programme manager for the eAdmissions National Project

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