The new Civic Centre will play home to the council's customer contact centre which will be up and running later this year. It will mean that people who want to do business with the authority will be able to meet staff face to face more easily than ever before.
News of this continuing commitment to improving access to Council services comes as a report goes to Cabinet next week, recommending that the authority should not proceed with phase two of the eGovernment programme -- service@swansea - in collaboration with Capgemini, but should instead seek an alternative, incremental approach to improving access to services.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Chris Holley, said that a lot of hard work over the last year by the Council and Capgemini had shown that the phase two proposals were not affordable.
"Phase one will improve the efficiency of support and back office services and will start to show benefits for the council during 2007," he said.
Already in phase one £7.4m of cash realisable benefits have been accepted as achievable over the 10 years of the contract.
Cllr Holley added, "We are getting world-class systems that will make the council more efficient and effective and give the Council improved systems to manage its business, helping to improve the services we provide that the people of Swansea depend on.
"Continuing reviews of our option to sign up to a Capgemini-managed phase two have shown that there is not a solution that is acceptable to the council. That is why it's being recommended that we don't proceed with this specific deal."
Cllr Holley said that the recommendation was a sensible one, "There are significant budget pressures this year and we must cut our cloth according to what we can afford. That applies to eGovernment as much as it applies to all the other services we provide.
"It would be a sensible and prudent decision which I think most people will understand and agree with."
Cllr Mary Jones, Cabinet Member for Top Performance and eGovernment, said that the people of Swansea want easier access to services at a price that was affordable.
"The Council is committed to improving the ways in which people can access our services face-to-face, online and over the phone," she said.
"The fact that the Council is already working on building a state of the art contact centre together with a new Central Library demonstrates that the commitment remains strong.
"And access to the site will be made easier thanks to improvements to the building as well as the introduction of the Swansea Metro service that will link the Civic Centre to the rest of the city," said Cllr Jones.
"The plan for an interactive website is another prime example of how the Council can meet the aspirations of our customers to have easy access to services and be affordable at the same time.
"If the recommendations are accepted by Cabinet on Thursday, the Council will get on with seeking an alternative to phase two that is both affordable and delivers on our commitment to improve access to services."
Quelle/Source: City and County of Swansea, 11.01.2007
