Bournemouth signs £150m transformation deal

The full council approved the incremental partnership contract with the business services provider earlier this week. The contract, worth £150m over 10 years, will come into effect on 1 December. It involves three key features, the first of which is a transformation programme aimed at saving the council up to 40% of its revenue budget over the next 10 years. It will see the development of a series of business cases and the council will have the final decision on the changes to put into effect. The second is the delivery of four initial services - ICT, revenues, benefits and facilities management – with the jobs remaining in Bournemouth. The partnership will aim to improve the standards of these services to place them within the top 25% in the country by 2013, while saving 5.9% a year on the running costs. The third is the creation of up to 650 new private sector jobs in the borough, with 350 guaranteed under the contract. These will be created in the field of carbon management, through the creation of a national Centre for Excellence, and the regional provision of support services to other public sector organisations. Leader of the council Peter Charon said: "It is the combination of service improvement, cost reduction, council-wide transformation, a flexible contract that lets us maintain control, and added benefit to the wider economy that make this a once in a generation opportunity."