It is bizarre to be reading in September a letter from Councillor Paul Osborne (‘Figures prompt more questions’, Your Views, September 2) expressing the same concerns about the council’s planned IT reforms that I raised in your letters page back in July.

Obviously, it can never be best practice to award any major contract without first putting it out to tender. In this case, the sole bidder (Capita) may even have been the proposer of the scheme, since Capita already has it’s size 12 foot in the door at the council. In the absence of transparency and accountability, Harrow Council cannot demonstrate that it has secured best value for taxpayers by handing this contract to Capita.

And that is a problem.

There has been no attempt to justify this highly contentious way of conducting business, and that is hardly surprising when it appears that the Conservative opposition is only now getting on the case and the vice-chairman of the overview and scrutiny committee is asking questions in the Harrow Times instead of in session.

Are our councillors all unaware of their duties and responsibilities? Don’t they know how the democratic process is supposed to work?

Mike Robinson, Hide Road, Harrow