Giant private firm to take on 600 West Sussex council jobs
2:00pm Saturday 9th June 2012 in News By Neil Vowles
A giant private sector firm has been chosen to take on hundreds of council jobs and run back-office services in a deal worth up to £154 million.
West Sussex County Council has confirmed Capita as its preferred bidder for a huge outsourcing project that will see responsibility for payroll, human resources, finance, procurement and office services transfer to the firm.
About 600 council staff would transfer to Capita later this year as part of the ten-year agreement which could eventually see 800 staff swap employers.
The deal is set to save the council £5.8 million over the next three years as part of total planned cost savings of £79 million.
Opposition councillors have raised concerns about what safeguards will be put in place if savings are not met and departments have to be brought back in-house.
The contract is expected to be formally signed by the end of the month and would start at the beginning of September.
Parallels have been drawn with joint venture company Somerset One, which was set up in 2007 by Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane Borough Council, Avon and Somerset police and IBM to modernise the local authorities’ business processes.
Earlier this year, Somerset decided to bring 160 HR advisory, development and learning jobs back in-house after making losses of £31.5 million.
Liberal Democrat councillor James Walsh said: “This is not dissimilar to the Somerset arrangement.
“I want to have assurances that the contract will be precise and specific, and that it will be subject to close monitoring by elected councillors of all parties in West Sussex.”
A West Sussex County Council spokesman said: “It would not be appropriate for us to comment on decisions made by Somerset County Council. They were outsourcing a different set of services.
“We have followed rigorous procedures in procuring a partner to work with us.
“Levels of performance, standards and service have been identified as part of this process, and will be carefully monitored throughout the life of the contract.”
A Capita spokeswoman said: “We are thrilled at the prospect of working with West Sussex County Council and look forward to supporting the council in delivering services.”
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
East and West Sussex fire merged call centre site announced - BBC News
The location of the merged East and West fire service emergency call centre has been announced.
East Sussex and West Sussex fire will start taking 999 calls at Haywards Heath fire station from September 2013.
Managers said the merged operation would allow more staff to be on duty, help to cut costs and provide a more advanced operation.
The fire services said there would be some job losses but they did not have a figure at this stage.
'Maintain local knowledge'Christine Field, of West Sussex County Council, said: "The town is geographically central to both East and West Sussex and its location creates equal opportunity for staff in the two existing control rooms to consider relocating to the Sussex Control Centre.
"This will help to retain the valuable skills and control experience in both services and, in addition, maintain local knowledge from across both counties - something that was important to the public during consultation.
"A single fire control centre in Sussex will have more staff on duty than either of the two current control rooms, as well as save money.
"It will also enhance working with the police and other agencies during an emergency."
John Livings, chairman of East Sussex Fire Authority: "The move towards a single control room for Sussex has arisen due to our shared desire to deliver the best possible fire and rescue services to the communities of Sussex, as well as the need to reduce costs in public spending.
"The new Sussex Control Centre provides an opportunity to deliver improvements in attendance times, the provision of information to the incident and improve the co-ordination of operational resources across the two services."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Monty Panesar helps Sussex beat the clock and beat Surrey - The Guardian
Festival cricket has been at its most obdurate here. Almost washed away on Thursday, nearly blown away on Friday, and kicked in the coffers every day, it still survived to present an exciting finish before an appreciative crowd. Even the sun came out at the end.
Horsham's stoics deserved some decent action on the final day of this important Division One fixture, and they received it, as Sussex roundly outplayed Surrey. The home side, set 22 to win from a minimum of six overs, won by 10 wickets with 25 balls to spare.
This Surrey side abound with talent. But they have won one game with the season half gone – against Sussex in their opening match – and unless they find some form soon they will be fighting relegation. Trailing by 227 on the first innings, they were within a few overs of saving the game when James Anyon took the last wicket, bowling the determined Rory Hamilton-Brown for 47. Surrey's top order has been inconsistent and they are in need of an opening batsman, having tried five combinations in eight matches.
Resuming on 39 for one, Surrey lost their first wicket when the nightwatchman Stuart Meaker, inside-edged Steve Magoffin into his stumps. The recalled Mark Ramprakash again looked diffident, a shadow of his imperious past. He survived long enough to play himself in but as soon as he had done so he was out for 37, lbw as he attempted to sweep Monty Panesar.
Sussex missed the chance of another breakthrough just before lunch when Chris Nash, at short leg, dropped Zander de Bruyn off Magoffin. It was not an expensive mistake. De Bruyn, dropped on 16 had added only five runs when – like Ramprakash – he was lbw attempting to sweep Panesar.
Steven Davies struck some pleasing drives and there were five fours in his 35 before he edged Panesar to Michael Yardy at slip. Encouraged by Panesar's success, Yardy opted for twirl from both ends and in his first over, Nash had Tom Maynard lbw.
Surrey were looking bad and soon they looked shambolic. Gareth Batty drove to wide mid-on and set off for a single. But he had not spotted that his captain, Hamilton-Brown, was going nowhere, and by the time he had conveyed that message to Batty it was too late for him to make up his ground and he was comfortably run out.
With Panesar and Nash in comfortable control, it was a small surprise that Yardy took the new ball, at 179 for six, 10 minutes before tea. But by now the Surrey batsmen looked equally hesitant against pace and spin. At tea they were 183 for seven. Murali Kartik, swinging, was bowled by the impressive Anyon and Jonathan Lewis looked unhappy to be given out caught behind off Nash. But Jade Dernbach resisted for almost half an hour to take Surrey to the brink of safety before the fall of Hamilton-Brown.
The only bad news for Sussex is that Queensland have asked for the return of Australian fast bowler Magoffin.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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