FOIs reveal IT spending down three per cent in local councils

CRN's Public Sector Spending Report reveals IT spending habits in local authorities

IT spending in local councils slumped three per cent annually in FY14/15, according to exclusive research carried out by CRN for the Public Sector Spending Report, which is released today.

Last year, CRN sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all 435 local councils in the UK asking for details on their IT spending, and 110 replied within the four-week period they are obliged to do so.

For FY14/15, total spending on IT among the 110 councils reached £532.2m, down three per cent on the financial year before it. Of that number, 44 per cent of authorities saw their spending grow annually, eight per cent spent the same, and almost half (48 per cent) saw their budgets shrink over the same period.

As part of the Public Sector Spending Report, CRN has complied a leader board of councils in terms of their spending on IT, providing details of the biggest-spending councils and with which suppliers they spent the most cash. The full report can be viewed here.

Further, some of the councils which replied provided us with details about how much they spent on cloud technology. The data suggests that cloud is becoming an increasing priority for local councils, with 45 per cent of those who responded to us claiming to have purchased some sort of cloud service in FY14/15. But those who did cough up on cloud shelled out only a small amount.

Full details on the appetite for cloud within local councils can be found in the Public Sector Spending Report.