Ealing Council has signed a £30m 10 year-contract with Serco to drive innovation and improve services.

The Service Ealing partnership will help build an IT service focused on strong delivery and performance management with an emphasis on outcomes.

The London council and Serco will jointly develop business cases for a wide range of initiatives to improve business effectiveness and an incentive element of the partnership encourages Serco to invest by offering the opportunity of additional reward.

Anthony Kemp, director of ICT and facilities at Ealing Council, says it chose Serco because ‘it offered us a contract which delivers excellent value and moves the ICT service to be more flexible through standardisation and centralised management.’

Other factors include a good strategic fit for Ealing, and Serco’s approach to aspects such as modern apprenticeship schemes and the digital challenge.

Darra Singh, Ealing Council’s chief executive, said: ‘We are excited to be working with a partner who has in-depth knowledge of the local government sector and goes way beyond technological capabilities.’