A LEADING councillor has said he is 'reassured' following a high level meeting with the company bidding to take over a range of council services.

Conservative group leader Councillor Colin Rigby, met with a director of Capita after the company had been criticised for the work it had been carrying out for a London council.

Capita had come under fire for allowing housing benefit claims to mount up. At its peak in April last year, 55,000 items of post had not been dealt with, although a spokesman for Capita said the service had been considerably improved since and 80 per cent of the backlog had been cleared.

Negotiations between the company and Blackburn with Darwen Council are currently under way, with an announcement expected within weeks. It is not yet known what services they will help run.

Coun Rigby said he had always been in favour of the scheme, which would see Capita and the council working as partners to develop services currently provided by the council alone, but said publicity had forced him to call a meeting with the company.

He said: "I think it's fair to say we had a frank discussion and the director, Tony Lubman, made several points about Lambeth and in particular the transitory nature of the population in that borough, people moving in and out and asylum seekers who are resident there.

"But in spite of that, they have made considerable improvements."

Coun Rigby added: "The agreement our council is negotiating would be a partnership, rather than that at Lambeth, which is a client-contract agreement. What that means is the borough will still have some input into the operation of Capita."

"The important thing to stress is negotiations are still ongoing. There is no firm commitment from the borough and we can pull out at the eleventh hour without any financial penalties."