UNION chiefs are demanding answers after a global information firm has failed to create a single job a year on from landing a major £92 million outsourcing contract from Scottish Borders Council.

And they want to know why many of the former local authority computer experts are now fulfilling contracts for authorities and health boards in the south of England.

A 13-year agreement for CGI to take over all of the council's IT work and lead a digital revolution in the area was announced last March.

The deal involved CGI establishing its second UK service centre in the Borders with the creation of an estimated 200 new jobs.

A total of 43 local authority IT staff also transferred to the multi-national company.

But, more than a year on from the announcement, no service centre has been established.

And, according to sources within the former local authority IT department, much of their desktop support work is now being sent to other centres in the UK with Newtown based workers employed on contracts outwith the area.

A source told us: “A lot of work which can be done here at Newtown is being sent to a centre in Wales.

“People are just sitting around twiddling their thumbs – so much for the IT revolution that was coming.”

Sites in Galashiels, Hawick and most recently, Tweedbank, have been considered for the new CGI service centre.

But it is understood that no firm commitment has been made to any site.

And union officials are concerned about the lack of progress.

UNISON regional organiser Janet Stewart said: “We’ve seen no new jobs or new centre and all of the staff who transferred are on worse contracts than they were with the council.

“We have been told about senior staff being invited to relocate out of the Borders which isn’t what was promised when CGI arrived last year.

"Our members who transferred over would like to know what is happening and I don’t blame them.”

Many local authority departments have raised concerns over the new IT support.

And at least one school, Peebles High, has submitted a formal complaint about the service.

Another CGI worker told us: "Around half of the IT people who were employed by Scottish Borders Council are now working on contracts for other organisations like the police and NHS in other parts of the country.

"CGI offer you up to the highest bidder. A lot of public money was used on this contract - someone should be asking questions.

"Anyone who has a computer problem at Scottish Borders Council now has to go through a call centre in Wales and many of them don't want to.

" It is a mess and the council knows it is."

CGI is the fifth largest independent IT and business process services firm in the world.

It employs around 65,000 staff across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Last year it was predicted, when the contract was announced, that the arrival of CGI would lead to a £100 million injection into the Borders economy.

When making the announcement Scottish Borders Council claimed it was benefitting from ‘highly competitive commercial terms’ which had previously been negotiated by City of Edinburgh Council the previous year.

And the local authority believe progress is being made to create a new centre.

A spokesperson said: “The council and CGI are working together to locate a major IT service centre in the Scottish Borders which will bring up to 200 additional jobs.

“CGI continue to be located at their Borders based operation in council HQ pending the delivery of this new facility.”

We attempted to contact CGI but they hadn’t returned our calls by time of going to press.