Keeping an eye on the competition...
Proof that our listeners are more eagle-eyed than government departments. Remember we announced the winner of the government's Show Us A Better Way competition on PM. Well - there was a hitch. The competition to develop new public information websites had picked a winner, , which turned out to be very similar to a site that already existed, . Adam Temple the member of the public who proposed Can I Recycle It didn't know about the pre-existing site, nor it seems did the Cabinet Office. But listener Peter Whitehouse spotted it, and emailed us about it. He said, "Interested in the Show Us a Better Way competition the other week (good idea). Then I learn the winning idea already existed, but they didn't know about it?"...
The Cabinet Office have admitted the oversight, and will now work to improve RecycleNow rather than creating an entirely new website (and Adam may well be involved in that work). So well done Pete and blog commenter Novojack who posted a similar thought. Read what the Cabinet Office had to say over the fold...
A Cabinet Office spokesman said the competition judges had been unaware that RecycleNow existed, despite having looked 'long and hard' for similar initiatives.
"Searches for similar ideas did not throw up any similar sites and nobody mentioned it in the comments section of Show Us A Better Way.
"The Power of Information Review was very clear about not duplicating sites so we won't be building a whole new one. The competition was always about ideas and this is an idea that visitors and judges agreed had legs. As it was already out there we'll be working with them to make it more successful, providing the service the person who suggested the idea wanted."
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