A Highland councillor has questioned the local authority’s decision to buy new computers for elected members in a bid to cut paper costs.
New laptop and tablet devices have been sent to 50 of the authority’s 80 councillors to cut the bill for printing and postage, and allow large committee agendas and reports to be accessed online.
Paperwork will still be provided to members who have opted not to take the new devices.
But Inverness councillor Donnie Kerr has claimed there is a lack of information about the anticipated savings from the move.
He says the cost of the new devices, service charges and training is unclear, although an indicative figure of £154,000 is cited in a Resources Committee report from November last year.
Mr Kerr also stressed that labour costs will still exist for preparing the documents to go online, and that members’ reports and agendas are just one part of the council’s overall paper costs which includes the likes of council tax forms.
He added: “I am just a bit concerned that a figure has been snatched out of thin air without doing the research and, at a later stage, they will come back and say it was a bit ambitious.
“I am not saying it might not be a saving but I would like to see more information to see if it is actually a saving.”
Councillor Kerr added that time spent training members to use their new devices could be wasted if they do not stand or are not re-elected in forthcoming local council elections in May.
Bill Fernie, head of the Resources Committee which approved the move, said the old equipment was “outdated” and replacements were needed to save “tens of thousands” in years to come.
He added: “There will certainly be a big saving in the paper delivered to council headquarters by the truckload.
“It may be that some councillors have opted not to take the equipment because they are not standing for election and maybe they personally feel they don’t want to do the courses or training required.”
The members’ new devices arrive as WIPRO Holdings UK Ltd taking on a new contract for information and communication technology services for the local authority.
It is part of a wider move to issue new tablet devices to council staff and about 20,000 Chromebooks to school pupils in the region.
Councillor Dave Fallows, chairman of the council’s IT repositioning board, said the new devices were more “portable”, “faster and more responsive” and had a longer battery life.
He added that the new equipment would allow councillors to more easily reference, annotate and take notes while in chamber.
