RICHMONDSHIRE District Council has become one of the first local authorities in the region to connect to the Government’s secure central computer network.

The Council was the first authority in the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside to “go live” with the new Government Connect programme.

The Government wants all local authorities to be using approved secure communications channels to receive, store and process information.

Thanks to its modern network, the district council was able to roll out this process quickly, and achieve the target well ahead of schedule.

The Council was approved to join Government Connect at the end of last year, and is now physically able to connect to the secure network.

A council spokesman said: “Making sure the sensitive data we hold is kept safe has always been a top priority for us, and we have invested heavily in our IT infrastructure to make sure our systems are secure.

“We are a relatively small authority, but we have put our limited resources to good use, and we are very proud to have received Government Connect approval so quickly.

“Richmondshire residents can be confident that sensitive personal data is being handled by computer systems with top-of-the-range security.”