EXCLUSIVE by Rob Merrick Political Correspondent, Daily Post
LIVERPOOL City Council will spend £2.5m servicing computers for its councillors in a 10-year deal condemned as a "scandalous waste" of taxpayers' money by an MP yesterday.
Just 120 PCs and laptops at the town hall are covered by the maintenance agreement struck with controversial joint venture company Liverpool Direct Ltd (LDL).
At an annual charge of around £250,000, it means council taxpayers are footing a staggering bill of more than £2,000 for servicing each computer for 12 months - costing £20,000 per PC for the duration of the 10-year deal.
Last night, Wavertree MP Jane Kennedy attacked the deal, claiming a brand new computer would cost only £600-£700 - one third of the annual service charge.
The Labour MP said: "How could they sign such a bad deal for council taxpayers? This demonstrates a chronic lack of rigour in the council's procedures.
"This is a service charge that has to be paid by the local authority for every computer, regardless of whether it breaks down or not."
And Cllr Joe Anderson, leader of the council's Labour group, added: "It's an absolute disgrace. My computer has never had to be repaired, yet it is costing £2,000 a year."
The revelation of the cost of IT support comes hard-on-the-heels of a damning report by external auditors, which found huge failures in the city council's contracts for crucial services.
KPMG made 43 recommendations to overhaul two deals worth £520m, including the one with LDL, which operates the city council's call centres.
Chief executive Colin Hilton admitted that implementing the changes could save millions of pounds of taxpayers' cash, even though the contracts were signed to cut costs.
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