Norfolk councils share IT services

Great Yarmouth's IT systems and infrastructure will be managed by Norfolk, with the borough council's current staff moving over to the county council's ICT team, the authorities have said. Great Yarmouth believes that the joining up ICT services with Norfolk is "the most resilient and cost effective way" to provide services to people living in the borough. The savings that are made will be spent on improving Great Yarmouth's IT infrastructure. "People quite rightly expect to be able to access services at times that are convenient to them and whether it be the technology that staff work from to deliver the service to the public, or the technology that allows the public to access the service directly themselves, the infrastructure has to be as resilient as possible in order for that service to work effectively," said Barry Stone, Great Yarmouth's deputy leader. "Sharing the county council's networks and technology, and the pooling of expertise of staff from both councils, will make the borough council more resilient." Norfolk said that the arrangement shows a willingness to "deliver value for money" and could open up possibilities for the future sharing of other services between the councils.