A LABOUR council has brought in a private company to handle some of its paperwork.

Durham City Council has given Anite Public Sector the contract to manage the scanning, indexing, preparation, batching and quality control of documents in its revenues and benefits department.

Images of documents will be given to staff, and hard copies archived or shredded. Copies will be taken to provide security and disaster back-up.

The council has also joined neighbouring Labour-run authorities Derwentside and Easington district councils in implementing Anite's document and management workflow systems in the department.

The council's revenue services manager Neil King said: "The systems which Anite has implemented will play a key role in modernising the revenues and benefits department in-line with 2005 e-government targets.

"We will be able to increase customer service levels, offering our customers a quick and efficient service.

The city council has also ordered the Anite income management and cash receipting system that will allow people to pay on-line.

An Audit Commission best value inspection report last year concluded that though the council had ambitious plans for the future delivery of services through IT, its improvement plan was weak.