South Wales Evening Post - 20 March 2007
Swansea Council has been attacked for a lack of information and confusion over its multi-million pound eGovernment programme.
Councillor Rene Kinzett, chairman of the eGov working group, has criticised officers for not keeping members updated on the scheme.
He pointed out that councillors learned of financial risks and claims for extra cash by the council's eGov partner, Capgemini, through an annual report.
Councillor Kinzett said the lack of information was one of the reasons for confusion over issues such as cost.
He said: "In these circumstances, where information is given out on a less than timely basis and where members are kept in the dark and given half the picture, is it any surprise that the media print stories which may not be entirely accurate?
"When the information coming out of County Hall is less than the whole truth, who can blame the news reporters?"
Swansea Council said councillors were kept in the loop in a number of ways, including regular briefings for Councillor Mary Jones, cabinet member for Top Performance and eGovernment.
A council source said a recent briefing on eGovernment was badly attended.
But Councillor Kinzett said he and his colleagues were frequently left in the dark on the progress of the scheme.
He said that in September the eGov working party was told that it was on course to meet a key target for the implementation of a new payroll system, but it emerged that during the same week officers were working on the assumption that the target would be missed.
Capgemini has submitted a claim to Swansea Council for increased costs because of the delay, with both sides discussing a way forward.
Councillor Kinzett said: "I find it incredible that members found out about the potential action via a budget report and not via a briefing from the responsible officers.
"I was led to believe by the cabinet member that she did not know about the failure to hit the February delivery time, itself several months after the original planned going live date, until a matter of days before the target was missed."
Councillor Mary Jones was not available for comment.
A spokesman for Swansea Council said: "Councillors are being kept informed of progress on the eGovernment programme in a variety of ways.
"The cabinet member for eGovernment and Top Performance receives regular briefings at weekly one-to-one updates and Cabinet receives regular updates.
"The eGovernment member working group is updated at its monthly meetings.
"The Performance Scrutiny Board has included eGovernment as part of its work programme and receives reports as requested.
"Further briefings are arranged on request.
"eGovernment is a complex programme and developments can occur between one committee meeting and the next, and we continue to improve ways to keep members updated."
SPIRALLING COSTS FORCE COUNCIL RETHINK
Related article - S.Wales Evening Post 20 March 2007
Swansea Council is in the midst of its 10-year eGovernment programme.
The council brought in IT firm Capgemini to deliver it.
It was a two phase project.
The first (resource@ swansea) was to update council computer systems for things like payroll, while the second mailto:(service@swansea)was supposed to create a one-stop shop for council queries on things like council tax bills and housing issues.
The cost of the scheme has spiralled since its inception with a figure of £170 million for both phases mentioned at one stage.
The programme is expected to make efficiency savings and improve the way Swansea Council operates.
The Capgemini contract for the first phase is worth £83 million with the council paying a further £16 million in charges and costs, putting the total cost at £99 million.
Capgemini has now been dropped from the second stage and a new contact centre system - which is being used at Cardiff Council - is being lined up at a fraction of the cost.
However, this will not be the one-stop shop that the council first envisioned
