Lancashire County Council forms joint ICT venture with BT

Lancashire County Council has signed a 10-year contract with BT Global Services worth about £400m, with the aim of achieving £100m of savings over the lifetime of the deal.

The savings will be generated through the faster deployment of new technology and systems, the council said.

Under the deal, A new private limited company called One Connect Limited will take over the running of ICT for the council and Lancashire schools, as well as back-office services for human resources, payroll, the customer service centre and procurement.

One Connect Limited will operate as a subsidiary of BT. The council will have a 40 per cent shareholding in the company, and BT will hold 60 per cent.

"Improving county council services and providing value for money for taxpayers is crucial to everything we do and the strategic partnership is a key part of this," said Geoff Driver, leader of Lancashire County Council.

"By using our combined expertise and technology, we will cut red tape, simplify processes used for carrying out many day-to-day tasks, and provide services far more quickly and efficiently," he added.

Neil Rogers, president of government and health at BT Global Services, said: "We believe that this partnership can and will act as a catalyst for economic regeneration in Lancashire by creating a county-wide infrastructure that supports new ways of working.

"The partnership will put Lancashire residents and the council at the forefront of developments in government IT services.

"We understand the council's need to drive cost transformation and we strongly believe that it is essential that the underlying ICT infrastructure and service operation can deliver this."