Staff roles under threat

A leading economist has warned Highland jobs will be lost as the result of a cost-cutting council deal with a new IT provider.

The local authority last week decided to slash its bill for information technology services over the next seven years by switching from Japanese giant Fujitsu to Wipro.

Fujitsu employs 140 people at offices in Inverness and Alness.

India- based Wipro has offices in Aberdeen and Glasgow and has offered to take on the contract at a cost of £57.5million.

Highland economist Tony Mac kay said: “I understand that some Fujitsu staff will be offered jobs with the new company but not all of them.

“Someof the work will be done in India, where wages and salaries

“Not all staff will be offered jobs with the new company”

are much lower than in the Highlands.

“The estimated saving on the new contract is £ 11million and you cannot achieve that without reducing the number of jobs involved.”

He said he had some sympathy for the council because of pressure from the Scottish Government to reduce costs.

But he added: “That implies job losses, unfortunately.”

Wipro has declined to comment because the deal with the local authority is yet to be finalised.

Fujitsu supporters, including some prominent Highland business people, had presented a case for the firm retaining the contrac t , arguing that the Japanese company’s presence had generated £4.5million for the region’s economy.