Essex CC has denied it has performed a ‘humiliating U-turn' by bringing its outsourced IT services back in-house three years before its contract ended. Leader of the council, Lord Hanningfield, said his council was ‘determined to deliver better services at a better price for Essex taxpayers'. ‘We also will act decisively when we judge that any contract is not delivering value for money, and will take appropriate action. This is not something we will shy away from nor avoid,' he added. Local union representatives have accused the council of rising ‘from the grave of the Thatcherite poll tax years, to drive through a huge privatisaion project'.
