Company sets sights on £11 million savings and plans to create apprenticeships as part of deal
The London Borough of Bexley has signed a deal with Northgate Public Services to share in an IT partnership over the next five years.
The contract comes into operation on 1 April and will involve the software and outsourcing company taking on the council's network and infrastructure services, service desk management and business applications. It will also manage the migration of data centre services.
While no value of the contract has been disclosed, the company said it will focus on reducing the IT spend and finding efficiencies, and forecast it will deliver £11 million in savings.
It has also followed a trend in local government IT partnerships in pledging to recruit apprentices from the local community, focused on skills to support the council's service delivery.
The deal also involves setting up an ICT Enabler Fund to develop new ways of delivering IT services.
Opportunities
Anthony Singleton, executive director for services at Northgate, said: “We believe there are excellent opportunities to enhance London Borough of Bexley’s IT service delivery. Our goal is not just to save the council money, but to create exceptional IT services that serve the current and future needs of the borough and its community.”
He added: “Ultimately, we’re focused on delivering £11 million in savings over the next five years to Bexley. These are credible goals, similar to what we’ve achieve with other councils. To date we have delivered £220 million in savings to over 100 public sector clients around the UK.”
The company has similar partnerships with councils including Reading, North Lanarkshire, Hartlepool and Nottingham.
Image: Erith Town Hall, one of Bexley's civic buildings, by Alan Murray-Rust, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
