The chief executive of Bristol, Stephen Peacock, took the decision to partner with Fujitsu for the city’s digital transformation project, value up to £35m. The contract term is up to seven years (initial term is five years).
Why has this not been widely talked about? Fujitsu began working with the council 11 months ago, February 2023. Try to find mentions of it at cabinet or full council though and you’ll be no wiser.
The reason for that is Cabinet authorised the chief executive, in 2022, to take this decision. Normally, a member of the executive would be deciding who Bristol partners with for millions of pounds. They would do it publicly and would provide space in public forum, to listen to questions and concerns.
The cabinet member in charge of the digital transformation programme is Councillor Craig Cheney, Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance and Performance. However, Cheney and Tim Borrett, Director for Policy, Strategy and Digital Transformation merely consulted with Peacock before the bureaucrat in charge of the council decided.
We are told that with politicians, the voters have the power to hold them to account by removing them at the next election. How do you hold to account a bureaucrat whose term has already been extended?
By authorising Peacock to take the decision to partner with Fujitsu, the company’s name doesn’t appear in cabinet papers. It only appears after the decision has already been taken.
I can’t speak as to why this decision was not taken publicly by politicians. I do know that the public (the demos in democracy) were not able to scrutinise or be aware of what the council was doing with its money.
Now that we’ve been handed this fait accompli by our executive (mayor and cabinet) what do we do?
Here are some questions I would like to see answered by the politicians elected to represent the 470k or so residents of Bristol:
Was any form of due diligence performed on the company in the light of the failings of the Post Office system. Was an auditor employed, if so, what were their findings?
Were their back up/restore/disaster recovery procedures and test results reviewed?
Were their access procedures and test results reviewed?
How is data stored and who has access to personal data, including financial information?
How is the system monitored and do they employ a sound change management system?
Politicians exist to make public, visible the policies they implement on behalf of the people. When they offload their powers of taking decisions to unelected bureaucrats, decisions begin to happen away from the public’s eyes.
There’s no democracy that works in secret. Not a single one.
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Notes for article: The initial five year contract is for £25m. There are two available 12 month extensions, £5m a year, that extends it £35m.
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