UK - WARNING OVER CITY MELTDOWN

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City council leaders have been warned the authority's computer systems are on the point of meltdown.

A £20m hi-tech upgrade is urgently required to replace outdated equipment used to run financial services, from issuing council tax bills to payroll facilities for the authority's 14,000 staff.

One option facing the new Liberal Democrat leadership is to contract out the management of some financial services.

Many local authorities have gone down that route.

The previous Labour administration in Hull backed such a move seven months ago.

But yesterday assistant chief executive Tony Taylor admitted little had happened since.

In a briefing to the new-look cabinet, Mr Taylor said: "There was a decision made but since then it has meandered. The question now is whether we do it."

Mr Taylor said the consequences of doing nothing were likely to be continuing high costs, technological collapse and possible Government intervention.

"The council does not have the capital or revenue to do this itself. The only way to finance this would be to find funding from other budgets," he added.

Inadequacies in the council's financial systems were highlighted last year in a watchdog report and again in the Audit Commission's damning Corporate Governance Inspection (CGI) draft study published last month.

The CGI report highlighted "severe disruptions" at the council caused by frequent network failures.

It added: "Several core systems were overdue for replacement and not adequate to support the council's vision of improving customer services."

When the CGI report is published in full next month, inspectors will recommend immediate action to secure an external partner to upgrade the council's computers.

Mr Taylor said a move by Lincolnshire County Council to contract out its financial services had resulted in savings of about £6m a year.

Hull Daily Mail

-- Anonymous, June 09, 2002


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