South Wales Evening Post - 17 November 2006
R O Nicholls (Have Your Say, November 10) has misled readers in his view of the council's eGovernment programme and its aims.
It is not an £83 million computer system. The new computer system will cost the council £17.8 million to buy and implement.
The remainder of the contract is to deliver the council's ICT service over 10 years, costing £6 million per year. We would have spent this amount on ICT services even if we hadn't introduced our eGovernment programme.
The programme is already delivering benefits for the council and the people of Swansea.
The performance of our ICT service is now continually improving and (since November 1) a new finance and procurement system has been delivered on target. This will be followed shortly by a new HR and payroll system.
This new system replaces dozens of outdated, stand-alone computer systems which were wasting taxpayers' money.
It will transform the way the council operates, improving efficiency by reducing the time and cost associated with the previous systems.
This new, fully integrated system is vital if we are to become a modern and efficient council that meets the needs of staff and residents.So a number of promises have been delivered.
The council is now working with its partner, Capgemini to realise the financial benefits of eGovernment.
We have also asked the council's external auditor to review what we have delivered so far and to help us in moving forward to make sure we do deliver on our promises during the 10 years of this ambitious programme.
Mary Jones,
Cabinet member for eGovernment, City and County of Swansea
