Anger at another delay to council's IT system

Councillors say they were ‘kept in the dark’ about project

- JANE HAYNES Politics Reporter

FURIOUS Birmingham councillors only learned of a threemonth delay to part of a multi- -million pound IT project when they read about it in the Post & Mail and its website BirminghamLive.

‘There are fears that taxpayers will now have to foot an even bigger bill as a result of our expose.

In an emergency meeting, members berated officials and leaders, claiming the episode made a mockery of claims of ‘openness and transparency’ at the beleaguered council.

Conservative councillor Richard Parkin, said he was ‘extremely angered and frustrated’ as he claimed: “If BirminghamLive had not written a story, we would be blissfully unaware even now.

“This episode shows more delays, a lack of openness, concerns rebuffed and a lack of oversight.”

But senior officers said the story broke before councillors were informed due to ‘an unfortunate series of timing issues’

Our original story revealed that a critical element of the council's Oracle Fusion finance, HR and IT system implementation had failed testing and was months behind schedule.

‘They also warned of a potential impact on the entire scheme - with every delay costing taxpayers more.