30 October

Labour Group launch attack on Lib-Dem IT Disaster

David Philips leader of the Labour Group in Swansea City Council has attacked the woeful financial mismanagement of service@swansea the failed IT system that is costing the city over £83million.

David Philips leader of the Labour Group said:
"The Lib-Dems need to take responsibility for their manifest failure to create real valued savings on their service@swansea project. A project costed, evaluated and implemented solely by the Swansea Lib-Dem administration.

The council have a contract to pay £83M to Capgemini, paid over £4M to consultants and diverted £16M council money to this project  without producing any discernable improvement to the services we provide the people of Swansea.

This is the equivalent of three new leisure centres and is entirely down to the poor decision making of the Lib-Dem administration. It is the most outstanding failure in Welsh Local Government history. Half of the project has been abandoned because expected savings of £26million failed to materialise and as a result the Council finds itself on a financial precipice, having borrowed too much and wasted far more. The Lib Dem-run Council itself admits there is now a £12 million black hole in its budget as a result of the reckless mis-management of our City's finances.

He continued
" To claim that the IT service were unfit for purpose in 2004 is nonsense, it is simply in the nature of modern IT  that it should be reviewed and modernised if a benefit can be gained. However what is clear is that the Lib-Dem Council finances are in total disarray with predicted savings failing to materialise and instead costing the tax payer extra money. Payments are being missed, bills are not being paid, it is a multi million pound scandal that highlights the sheer incompetence of this administration"