BT Cornwall Fined After Failing Council

BT Cornwall has been fined of £100,000 following reports that the state of IT delivery at Cornwall Council had been “generally downward” since the telecoms provider took over.

The partnership between BT and Cornwall Council was launched in 2013 when it was envisaged the company would take on a number of services from the local authority.

However, BT did not take on as many services as expected and mainly covers back office functions such as IT and HR.

The firm also promised that 111 new jobs would be created in the first two years of the contract, but it has delivered just 35 – a further 240 that were promised also never materialised.

Concerns have also arisen because Cornwall Council was promised financial gain as part of the deal but this has yet to be seen.

“If they don’t hit performance indicators, then we can penalise them, which we have been doing. We’re serious about this, the contract management is very robust and we’ll continue to monitor it to make sure we get the best value for the taxpayers of Cornwall,” Adam Paynter, cabinet member responsible for the partnership, told local press.

Controversy

A council report reveals that BT has been paid nearly £25m in respect of services provided over the first two years on the contract and yet just 38% of targets has been delivered.

The controversial ten-year £260m deal led to the departure of council leader Alec Robertson in 2012 and was “slimmed down” before getting council approval.

According to BT Cornwall, it is making changes to its senior management team and working closely with the local authority to ensure it delivers on all aspects of the contract.

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