Fujitsu Services

Walsall Council and Fujitsu to transform services for local people

£650-million partnership is biggest of its kind in the UK

Walsall, 2nd December 2004 — Over 750 new jobs will be created in the borough

Walsall Council's cabinet last night approved proposals for a joint venture worth £650 million with Fujitsu Services, one of Europe's leading providers of public sector services.

The Putting the Citizen First project, which will be the largest partnership of its kind in the UK, will revolutionise the quality of council services for local people and set up a regional business centre that will boost the economic prospects of the borough.

The proposal will go to the council's scrutiny panels before a final decision in early December. Fujitsu will invest £115 million - far exceeding the council's original target of £30 million - and over 750 new jobs are to be created in the borough. Subject to final contract negotiation, the twelve-year partnership is scheduled to start from the beginning of the next financial year.

The aim of the project is to deliver to local people a fully joined-up, high-quality service from the council. There will be massive investment in training, support and the latest technology for council staff. Citizens will have access, at a time and location that is convenient to them, and by any means that suits them, to a single point of contact where they can get service from staff who will be trained and empowered to respond effectively to their request across a wide range of services. For example, a citizen enquiring about council tax, waste collection, library or any other council service will be able to resolve all these issues with just one call.

Opening hours for customer visits and telephone calls will increase and email and internet queries will get 24 hour, 7-days a week access. There will be a number of district service centres across the borough.

The partnership has a commitment to deliver top service performance within the first three years - supporting the council's vision of becoming an excellent local authority by 2008. A regional business centre will be established in the town's new Walsall Waterfront with the option for further premises to promote business growth. There will be a design centre, hi-tech manufacturing, a technical design suite and a cyber skills laboratory. The partnership will cover over 20 council functions and services and 1,557 council staff will transfer with full terms and conditions protection, pension rights, improved training and development and nearly £20 million investment in the latest technology. There will be no compulsory redundancies.

Annie Shepperd, chief executive of Walsall Council said: "We needed a strategic partner to bring to reality our vision of providing excellent services for the people of Walsall. Nearly 30 companies expressed a strong interest in this project but Fujitsu emerged as the best choice for us. They proposed a joint venture with the council to run and manage the partnership, with highly innovative regeneration initiatives. Our citizens will be the real beneficiaries as our aim is to provide the highest quality services by the first three years of the partnership as well as achieve real savings in time, cost and efficiency".

Council leader Tom Ansell said: "The proposals promise an historical development for Walsall . The jobs created will be high quality and the regional business centre will form the focus for new opportunities to provide public sector services on a regional and national basis from right here in Walsall . The council's vision for the Walsall Waterfront as a vibrant cultural and commercial centre will become reality, and several other regeneration projects will come on stream that will transform for good the borough's economic prospects and development".

David Smith, public sector managing director, Fujitsu Services, said: "This is a groundbreaking opportunity for both Fujitsu and Walsall . The twelve-year relationship with Walsall will reinforce our leading position as a partner to local government. We are looking forward to rolling up our sleeves from day one and working in true partnership to transform both the services provided and the borough. We aim to bring service excellence to the borough's citizens and will be continually improving the standards and the quality of service. The partnership will bring greater job satisfaction for employees and will allow the council to fulfil its strategic plan of becoming a beacon council, delivering excellent services for its citizens".

The partnership between Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council and Fujitsu Services will also involve two United Utilities businesses acting as sub-contractors to Fujitsu: Vertex for the provision of a range of customer management, transactional and back office services and United Utilities' asset and operations management division, who will provide facilities and property management services.

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About Fujitsu Services

Fujitsu Services is one of the leading IT services companies in Europe , Middle East and Africa . It has an annual turnover of £1.74 billion, (€2.58 billion) employs 14,500 people and operates in over 20 countries. It designs, builds and operates IT systems and services for customers in the financial services, telecom, retail, utilities and government markets. Its core strength is the delivery of IT infrastructure management and outsourcing across desktop, networking and data centre environments, together with a full range of related services, from consulting through integration and deployment. Headquartered in London, Fujitsu Services is the European-centred IT services arm of the Fujitsu Group. The Fujitsu Group is a US$45 billion (€37 billion) leader in customer-focused IT systems and services for the global marketplace.
For more information, please see: uk.fujitsu.com

About Walsall Council

The Walsall metropolitan borough area covers 40 square miles and a population of 252,000 in the West Midlands. Walsall Council is recognised as one of the fastest improving in the UK and has a strong track record in private/public partnerships, including an award-winning street lighting replacement project with Amey and the running of its education service with SERCO, resulting in unprecedented improvements in educational standards.
For more information, please see: www.walsall.gov.uk

About Vertex

Vertex is an international business process outsourcer with particular expertise in customer management. It manages over 34 million client customer accounts and provides employment for over 9,000 people. The company develops and implements a range of outsourcing solutions for many leading organisations in the commercial, financial services, utility and public sectors. These include transformational outsourcing, combining Vertex's skills in consulting, technology and outsourced service provision to stimulate and facilitate business change and flexibility. The Vertex head office is in Manchester and its 9,000 employees are based in 30 UK locations covering the North West, Midlands, South East England and Wales and Scotland. Internationally, it has operations in India and Canada . Vertex is part of United Utilities plc, a FTSE 100 company.
For more information, please see: www.vertex.co.uk

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