Meeting documents

The Chairman reminded the meeting that, as it stood, subsequent to the last Commission meeting, the ICT (Information Communication Technology) Task and Finish Group was due to meet again. However Task and Finish Group Chairman; Councillor L Wood had since left the Group and had been appointed as Cabinet Member for HR, ICT and Customer Services.

The Chairman remarked that he was delighted with this appointment and so as to keep the Commission updated on the development of ICT across the Council, the new Cabinet Member had been invited to this Meeting to outline to Members the progress made in respect of the new Strategy.

Councillor L Wood the Cabinet Member then thanked the Commission for its previous and continued input into the Strategy Development, he remarked that his Policy Advisory Group for HR & ICT included many of the Task and Finish Group Members involved in the earlier Scrutiny work. He hoped to return as a regular feature on Commission agendas to keep members updated on the Strategy’s development.

A broad set of upgrades to ICT provision for both staff and Members was underway with completion by the end of the summer. Microsoft 2013 was being installed, to then be followed by 2016 and ultimately 365. RSA cryptosystem software tokens were to launched, internet access to be upgraded along with VDU (Visual Display Unit) replacement. Telephony upgrades were being worked on, with an aspiration to move to Skype thereafter.

The Cabinet Member acknowledged that there was limited funding, but it was not just a case of cost benefits but resultant operational efficiencies. The importance of the impending termination of support of some of the current systems was discussed and acknowledged.

The hardware refresh to officers was being rolled out first, to be followed for Members. The latter would not be mandatory; Members would not be obligated to return current hardware or cease using their own.

The ICT Strategy effectively included a commitment to go digital by default, this was to be the primary means of communication with customers. However care was to be taken that the traditional means of communication remained open to those not computer literate, if not enhanced. ‘Digital by default’ involved a considerable number of strands of work, of which the ICT Strategy was only one.

All the above work was currently being processed by the PAG (Policy Advisory Group) a planned report was to be submitted to Cabinet in November, the Cabinet Member intended to bring this to the Commission in September before the Cabinet’s consideration.

John McMillan (Head of HR, ICT and Customer Services) attended in support of Councillor Wood, the Commission noted and appreciated John’s contribution on all IT & HR matters.

RESOLVED: That (i) the update from the Cabinet Member for HR, ICT and Customer Services in respect of the evolving ICT (Information Communication Technology) Strategy be noted; and;

(ii) a report be brought back to the September Commission meeting in respect of the Draft ICT Strategy before its submission to Cabinet in November 2017.