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- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Computer system bungle to cost £7.1m
Tuesday 15th December 2009, 2:00PM GMT.
A secret report detailing the £7.1 million cost to taxpayers of a failed deal to overhaul Wolverhampton City Council’s computer system can today be revealed.
A leaked copy of the document seen by the Express & Star reveals details of the pay-off to a private firm at a time when the council is slashing services.
Today Wolverhampton North East MP Ken Purchase raised a motion in Parliament calling for an investigation into the decision by council lawyers to try and keep the figure secret ahead of a meeting tomorrow night.
The report also reveals council chiefs want an independent review to properly discover what went wrong, and how such a devastating loss to taxpayers can be prevented in future.
The £68m Axon deal to bring in a new IT system and cut jobs was set up by former chief executive Richard Carr under the previous Labour administration.
It was meant to save taxpayers £126m over 10 years but was scrapped a year ago after the Tories came to power.
The confidential report has gone to seven top executives and all 60 of the city’s councillors have received an individually numbered copy amid a warning they could be sued for leaking it.
It will be discussed in private at the Civic Centre tomorrow night – the first time taxpayers have been banned from a full council meeting in the history of the authority.
MP Mr Purchase said today: “This is not so much about the £7.1m cost as it is about the affront to democracy by keeping this secret. I am concerned that this will set a precedent for keeping taxpayers in the dark.”
The final pay-out works out at £73 per household in Wolverhampton.
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and what part of that report surprises anyone?
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Only one way to stop this happening again is for everyone to stand for their wards as a independant and get the people running the council for THE people! A form can be downloaded off the council website! Lets stand up to these councillors.
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…..there is nothing to say is there?
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Heads should roll – but of course they won’t.
This is a scandalous waste of public money and the public should know what went wrong.
Out of darkness cometh light ? The motto should be: Wolverhampton Council – Unspoilt by Progress !
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Did they have to upgrade from their sinclair ZX81′s? DISASTER.
Sorry was that £74 per house hold over the last 10 years? BARGAIN
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P.s This is what happens when there is a change of power.
I.e Tories
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Well done Wolverhampton Council, almost as bad as Sandwell Council and the Public fiasco!
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And this is only part of the cost – there is all the Council officers time in writing the specification and helping with the introduction (before it was cancelled) and all of the legal and other costs in getting the Council out of the contract
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I vote that “Katie” your correspondent below,(the labour party activist who it seems is employed by the council)pays my share of this. So its £146 down to you now Katy. Any more offers?
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katie what are you on about
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How much did it copst to look at somting that any one outside the Council already knew that the system was a waste of time but then its only taxpayers money.
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Easy come easy go money, lets put a few quid on next years council tax, the plebs will not miss it
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The £7.1 million should be deducted from the councillors’ wages. They are the ones who are responsible for looking after the taxpayers’ money.
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Labour excelling again at wasting other peoples’ money. What a disgrace they are.
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They tried to keep the Public report quiet. They try and keep this massive waste quiet.
‘Lessons will be learned’ no doubt.
Zero accountability for their time in office, now they run away and will try and blame the current incumbents.
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The fact is that the Axon deal WAS affordable when Labour were in. Why? Because the Tories decided that they would shuffle the money and butter up voters with a 0% council tax come Apirl 2010.
The Tories canned the deal because it was cheaper way of freeing up money – £7m compo in the short term as opposed to £18m going ahead with the Axon deal but saving £126 MILLION. How does the tv ad go? “Spend a little, save a lot”.
The upshot is that the council’s IT systems are on the point of collapse, they have no specialist skills to do the transformation themselves and there is no prospect of delivering better and financially efficient services for taxpayers. How does that translate to “performing adequately” in the recent council inspection?
There are so many questions to be answered about this disgraceful mess, but the Tories and Axon feel democracy doesn’t apply in this case.
Where’s my £7.1m? Which bozo’s are responsible? We may never know!
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Yet another Wolverhampton cock-up and no doubt there will be many, many more to come?
Wolverhampton’s councillors, regardless of whichever party they represent love spending taxpayer’s money don’t they and do they have any conscience about doing so?
How about a new Civic Centre eh guys – the current one is getting quite old now and could do with being replaced!
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Katie said: “P.s This is what happens when there is a change of power. I.e Tories”.
It always amuses me when people comment on things they clearly have no knowledge of. I think you’ll find that this is what happened prior to the change of power Katie, i.e. Labour.
I’m suprised to learn that Ken Purchase even knows the way to Parliament, as he’s spent so little time there over the past few years. Trying to accuse the Tories of a cover up of Labour’s cock up, is a bit desperate. Nice to see him concerned about Wolverhampton taxpayers though, considering he “did not care” about public anger over his dodgy expenses.
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What qualifications do wolverhampton councilliors have to be making desicions regarding spending this amount of money. most of the councillors i know are either dinner ladies or ex bin men. No wonder the fat cat managers run rings around them and line there own pockets. we are doomed
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WE NEED A MAYOR WHO WILL BOOT OUT THESE INCOMPETANT FOOLS. VOTE FOR MAYOR SEABASS I WILL SAVE THE TAX PAYER MILLIONS AND STILL ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF YOUR MISERABLE LIVES
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I agree Katie…. Thats all you will get from the Tories, Cut backs. They are in power now KSB and are responsible for the cover up not Labour. if the I.T system need over hauling then so be it
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Go Mayor Seabass :)
Seriously, the answer to what qualifies Wolverhampton councillors to take such decisions is apathy.
Regardless of party, the vast majority of councillors in this city are woefully ill-prepared for running a £400 million per year organisation.
Instead, they’re really good at delivering leaflets, saying the right thing to other party members and biding their time for a ward where they’re likely to get elected.
So, if you want a better quality of councillor, stand for election. Don’t just moan on the E&S website, do something about it.
As for this deal, the idea that the council are holding secret meetings to decide how to spend our money offends me greatly. I have no respect whatsoever for the previous Labour administration but at least they put something in place to sort the IT systems at the council. What are the Tories proposing? What about the Lib Dems?
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How much of the report is factual? And in whose interest was the person doing the leaking acting?
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I think this report should be made public, even if to verify whether it is based on facts or fiction. It if it based on facts then I think we have a right to see where public money is being spent. You don’t write that kind of sum off just like that.
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Well said JJ33!
It appears there are many respondents on this page who haven’t read the story and can’t follow the timeline!!
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Typical Labour supporter then stjoe? That doesn’t really surprise me. Well done for helping to create the largest national and regional debt this country has ever had.
But I suppose in your eyes everything bad about the UK at the moment is the Conservative’s fault too, eh? It’s such a shame people like you actually get a vote.
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Yes KSB its a pity we might actually see a Tory party in power. Lets see what cut backs they make to save money . lets see who suffers the most eh? Because it certainly won’t be the rich. Tory council in wolverhampton are already cutting back services for the needy. You enjoy them while they are in power.
I won’t blame them for all the ills if yesteryear. I’m just looking forward to all the voters who will rue the day they turned to Tory!!
Yes I will admit I vote Labour…but thats the party thats helped me out the most so far in life.
AS for regional debt..well thats wolverhampton for you, even as a city. Sandwell does ok financialy, it;s just as wastefull but then again you would think Tory wolverhampton would know better than Labour Sandwell wouldn’t you???
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