Somerset Council's controversial partnership deal identifies savings

Operations successfully streamlined in £400m deal that sees staff transferred to IBM joint venture

IBM is helping Somerset council to streamline council services

Somerset County Council has identified a possible £60m of savings after a £400m partnership deal with IBM helped the authority to streamline procurement and administration costs.

Core council functions and staff were transferred to the joint venture known as Southwest One a year ago in a deal which aimed to save £200m over10 years.

"These kinds of savings are the reason we spent months planning and negotiating this groundbreaking change in some of our operating procedures," said council leader Jill Shortland.

Further planned savings through the joint venture company include buying library books at a discount, making previously printed legal documents available online, replacing meetings with teleconferencing, and buying train tickets more efficiently.

About 800 staff from Somerset and Taunton Deane councils are now working for Southwest One, while local police forces have seconded 600 staff to the company.

The contract ran into some controversy over the summer after IBM prevented the council from releasing details of the partnership to local journalists who said the deal had been shrouded in secrecy.