Capgemini in £10m bid for new jobs from public sector

OUTSOURCING firm Capgemini is to invest more than £10 million in Scotland creating jobs displaced in the public sector cutbacks.

The company plans to double its 650-strong Scottish workforce over three years and expects at least half that number to switch from the public sector.

John Duncanson, the firm's Scottish boss, told The Scotsman that he also plans to create a "software factory" which would employ at least 50 highly-technical staff providing back-up technology for the public sector and other clients.

He declined to reveal further details, saying he has a target IT company in mind to build it around and that it is based in the central belt. Duncanson said he expected it to be operating a year from now.

The company expects all its centres in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Nairn to benefit from the expansion.

Procurement and business process outsourcing are the two key areas for the firm and talks are well under way with the Scottish Government.

While the company competes with other business servicing companies such as IBM and Oracle, it is also working with them as each firm brings a different set of skills to the table.

"The Scottish Government is looking at how it can deliver services better and sharing services is one way of achieving that." he said.