Birmingham City Council leaders insist they're ‘not suffering from optimism bias’ in major project

The Labour administration at the crisis-hit authority said ‘significant strides’ had been made with the reimplementation of the Oracle IT system during a cabinet meeting this week.

The disastrous implementation of the Oracle system was one of several issues which contributed to the Labour-run council effectively declaring itself bankrupt in September 2023.

A recently-published council report said it resulted from factors such as flawed configuration and lack of appropriate levels of testing.

But it continued that the system will empower the council and its staff to manage money, people, and information efficiently and effectively.

“The approach taken intends to fix the problems from the previous failed implementation whilst reducing the delivery risk,” the report said, adding that new governance arrangements were in place.

Cabinet member councillor Rob Pocock described the reimplementation of Oracle as a “major transformation project” during this week’s meeting.

“The potential for this technology to transform this council is huge,” he said.

“We’re going to be able to deliver savings and the improvement and recovery plan through this transformational project.

“We obviously had a go at this a few years ago, which didn’t work.”

But Coun Pocock, who is overseeing the council’s transformation, went on to argue that the report shows there is now “tight oversight”.

Conservative Coun Ewan Mackey questioned whether the council’s Labour administration was suffering from “optimism bias” when it came to the reimplementation.

“[The implementation of Oracle] is one of the pillars that bankrupted the council,” he said.

“The narrative about this has been positive the whole way, even in the time when it was a complete disaster.”

Cabinet member Coun Saima Suleman responded by saying the Oracle reimplementation was “about looking forward but also ensuring that lessons have been learnt”.

“I’d like to assure you that no-one is suffering from optimism bias,” she went on to say.

“We are very open and transparent about the risks but we’re also focused on the mitigations and management of these risks.”

The report said an internal assessment and an independent assurance review supported the decision to proceed.

The council’s cabinet agreed to authorise the completion of the re-implementation of Oracle during the meeting, with a target date of April 2026.

External auditors have previously highlighted several issues which have plagued the council along with the implementation of Oracle, including the equal pay debacle, inadequate budget setting, poor service management and demand led pressures.

Labour politicians have also pointed to the impact of previous funding cuts on local government.