Oldham Council has won an award for its response to the Covid pandemic at the annual Government Opportunities (GO) Excellence in public procurement awards.

The annual ceremony has been running since 2003.

This year’s ceremony was held at the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham on Wednesday, May 25.

The council beat other local authorities to win the Covid-19 Response and Recovery Award in the Local Government category.

Other finalists in the category included Worcestershire County Council, North Yorkshire County Council, and the North Essex Economic Board.

A spokesperson from Oldham Council, said: “We’re delighted that the innovation and hard work of the council’s public health and procurement team has been recognised.

“Those working on the project did so under significant pressure during the pandemic to offer asymptomatic Covid testing to residents of Oldham.

“The Go Awards recognise innovations, initiatives and advancements in public procurement.

“Our model was developed in just six weeks and resulted in 25 pharmacies and one community testing provider offering asymptomatic testing across the borough, moving away from the large scale testing sites seen in the rest of the country.

“We’re very pleased our efforts to reduce transmission of the virus and keep residents safe have been recognised nationally.”

Oldham Council was also a finalist in the Best Procurement Delivery category but lost out to Scotland Excel – an organisation which serves Scotland’s 32 local councils.

Other winners included the NHS Supply Chain for the Procurement Team of the Year Award in the NHS organisations category, and North Yorkshire County Council for Procurement Team of the Year Award in the other organisations category.

The judging panel for the awards was made up of 11 judges from across local government, academia, and business.