Submitted by SWFBU on
FBU PARLIAMENTARY GROUP
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate use
Tuesday 20th September 2011
FBU Group welcomes PAC report into scandal of FiReControl waste
The FBU Group today welcomed the damning conclusions of the Public Accounts Committee’s report into the failure of the FiReControl project.
FBU Group Chair Kate Hoey MP commented: “The failure to effectively manage this project from the outset or to spot the growing risk to the taxpayer, makes this an unforgiveable episode in the history of government IT procurement. The politicians and senior civil servants responsible for this debacle stroll off into the sunset leaving the taxpayer and the emergency services to carry the can – this further injustice must be remedied. As the PAC recommends, individuals should be held to account for their role in allowing this fatally flawed project to continue swallowing up public money when it was clearly set to fail from an early stage.”
FBU Group Secretary John McDonnell MP said: “On behalf of the FBU in Parliament, we met minister after minister to expose the disastrous waste of resources being poured into this project. Each one refused to drop the scheme. In our estimates, the loss is nearer £1 billion. Think what this could have been spent on in improving fire safety. It is a disgrace and former ministers should be called to account.”
