London fire brigade to outsource 999 control centre

The London fire brigade is to outsource its 999 control centre to Capita. The deal will see Capita run the call centre on behalf of the brigade and also supply a new 999 control system. The 10-year agreement is expected to save the brigade £5m over its lifetime and is expected to go live later this year. Under the contract, which has been agreed to by members of the London Fire Emergency Planning Authority, existing staff including 999 control officers and back office employees will be transferred to Capita. A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade confirmed that under the terms of the yet-to-be signed contract, other fire authorities could join the deal. He said the value of the contract could not yet be disclosed, but revealed that it currently costs around £9m a year to run the control centre in-house. According to the London fire brigade, the contract will allow the service to focus on its core business of putting out fires and saving lives. The London Fire Emergency Planning Authority's chairman Brian Coleman said: "Outsourcing the Brigade's 999 control centre will mean people in the capital benefit from a new, high-tech system that will mobilise our firefighters to incidents even more quickly and this will be done at less cost." This article is published by Guardian Professional. For weekly updates on news, debate and best practice on public sector IT, join the Guardian Government Computing network here.