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Council IT jobs 'could go abroad'
2011-05-22 11:15:56
21 May 2011 Last updated at 17:50 Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Birmingham City Council IT jobs 'could go overseas' Continue reading the main story Related Stories Social care cuts plan is unlawful Connexions staff to go on strike Party elects city's Labour leader
Birmingham City Council and management firm Capita are considering sending some of their work overseas.
The posts are with Service Birmingham, a joint IT venture between the council and Capita, BBC WM has learnt.
The council has said it needs to save £212m in the next financial year.
Service Birmingham said as part of the partnership it was exploring how it "can utilise some overseas expertise to help deliver a cost-effective addition to our Birmingham operation".
'Committed to Birmingham'Steve Foster from union Unite said: "Those people who are going to be put at risk, shall we say, if a job isn't found for them within the city council then they will be made redundant."
In a statement, Service Birmingham, which has been providing information and communications technology (ICT) systems to the council since 2006, said: "We are talking about a limited number of back office technical roles. No customer-facing staff will be affected.
"It is still early days and we will actively work with our trade union representatives as our plans develop.
"It is important to emphasise this is just one element of the work we do for the council and we remain absolutely committed to our Birmingham workforce."
The council's deputy leader Paul Tilsley said there had been stories about further outsourcing but he denied they were true.