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31/03/04 - A year of improvement and achievement

Cumbria County Council and The Capita Group PLC have today welcomed the substantial progress made in their partnership to provide a range of Council services in the county. The news came today as the organisations launched their Annual Service Review for 2003/4.

Service improvements for the public, and efficiency savings for the Council, totalling over £1.3 million since 2001, have been achieved. This has been made possible by close working, combining skills from both public and private sectors and maximising the use of new technology. Highlights of the year included:

The launch of the new Highways Hotline, which has improved the public enquiry service.

  • The opening of a new Capita, Regional Business Centre in Carlisle.
  • The creation of over 160 new jobs.
  • Capita increasing its annual turnover by £8m in Cumbria by attracting new business.

Councillor Rex Toft, Leader of the County Council says:

“This has been the most productive period of our 7 year partnership to date. Capita have overcome some of the service issues seen in earlier years. Within the County Council the action we took to improve working links has proved beneficial. Technical improvements to the Highways Hotline have improved the way we handle public enquiries and complaints about the road network.

Just as important is the impact Capita are having on the economy. New jobs have been created and the Regional Business Centre at Kingmoor Park is a shining example of a modern business in a modern business environment. Whilst there is still some way to go for Capita to meet all the targets and objectives of the partnership contract substantial progress is now being made. 

All in all the Annual Service Review is testament to a productive partnership between a public and private sector organisation. A partnership that benefits the economy of the county and, by putting the public at the forefront of its thinking, delivers quality services.”

Rod Aldridge,Executive Chairman Capita Group Plc says:

“I’m delighted with the progress that has been made over the past year and am confident there’s more to come. Capita is now a major employer with over 700 staff in Cumbria and our new Regional Business Centre in Carlisle is a clear long-term commitment to developing our business in the county.” 

Peter Studd, Capita Business Director adds:     

“We did suffer well publicised problems around the Payroll service back in 2002. We reacted quickly, invested over £200k in improvements and the results released today show that service in 2003 was back to industry best, with error rates consistently down to less that 1%.

Significant achievements were also delivered in the area of Highways, where the ‘Cumbria Highways Team’ - a partnership between the County Council, Cumbria Contract Services and Capita - successfully delivered Cumbria’s largest ever programme of road improvements in 2002/3, totalling some £22million, and is on target to repeat this again this year.

Our partnership is also well on track to achieve substantial targeted savings for the Council, with £1.3 million already saved since 2001. This has been possible working closely together, combining skills from both public and private sectors to deliver process improvements and service innovations.”