There are huge warning lights for Edinburgh as Tory Somerset council is negotiating to take many services back in-house – including finance and HR, with staff expected to transfer back next year. As the Daily Press has reported, the controversial deal was intended to save Somerset more than £200 million through sharing back-office functions, and also involved Avon & Somerset Police and IBM. http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Cost-cutting-Somerset-council-enterprise-8216/story-13503066-detail/story.html
MP Ian Liddell-Grainger, who has waged a four-year campaign over the project, welcomed news that the county council is renegotiating its contract with Southwest One. But he warned the “failed enterprise” had wasted four years and cost taxpayers thousands of pounds.