Digital Region losses result of poor planning

MAJOR losses by the much-vaunted Digital Region are surely a stark reminder of inefficient planning being overseen at its outset by... you’ve guessed it... Yorkshire Forward and local councils (Yorkshire Post, January 17).

I penned my thoughts to the Yorkshire Post on this quango, along with others, who had spent millions on a variety of projects, just before the election of May 2010. I also penned my views to my MP Julian Smith (Conservative, Skipton and Ripon) soon after he was elected.

While he is keen to extend broadband to the rural areas, don’t these huge losses by Digital Region pose serious questions on further initiatives that will need a great deal of Government finance relating to an extension of broadband?

As for Yorkshire Forward promising a further £4m on top of their investment of £40m in this Digital Region, it is almost unbelievable.

Of course, it is noticeable that this vast sum of money has been spent in the Labour heartlands.

Did no-one within the new coalition Government spot anything amiss, I ask.

The demise of Yorkshire Forward next month gives me little satisfaction, especially as some executives, I am led to believe, have settled in to a variety of well-paid positions within local government and even the local enterprise partnerships.

Lee Strafford’s suggestion that perhaps the NHS could use Digital Region for home healthcare services sounds like a lifeline, yet untried. Dare I suggest that the NHS has spent vast sums of money on its own efforts to upgrade its own internet services and faltered along the way?