Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Hugh Morris.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 21 January 2014.

RESOLVED: That the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 21 January 2014 be approved as an accurate record.

Matters arising

Members asked the Town Clerk to check the attendance at the previous meeting and to update it to ensure the correct Members who were present were listed.

The Chairman informed the Committee that the visit to Agilysis would take place on Friday 28th March at 2pm. A coach had been booked which could take up to 15 people.

Report of the Chamberlain

The Committee considered the report of the Chamberlain which provided an oversight of project progress. The report presented the communication approach being used with Chief Officers at Strategy Board. It also illustrated the links between the corporate plan and the Service Reviews currently underway.

Members noted that there were no “red” or “amber” status projects. Members noted the brand new set of charts included in the report, the intention of which was to provide Members with the insight as to how the Portfolio & Change team were monitoring resource allocation.

Officers informed Members that there were a total of 85 projects within the IS division. 33 were in flight, 25 were being scoped, 22 were unallocated, one was closed and four were on hold.  Officers stated that their view was that the overall number of projects was too high for an organisation this size and there was a critical review underway of the 85 projects within the portfolio, with a view towards rationalising them.

Report of the Chamberlain

The Committee considered the report of the Chamberlain which provided Members with an overview of two of the key infrastructure projects, Wide Area Network (WAN) and Remote Access.

Members were informed that the Wide Area Network project was approved by Finance Committee in 2013 and saw the City’s WAN upgraded from a BT based hub and spoke network to a modern, faster and more effective network, provisioned largely from Virgin Media. The new network would support faster and more reliable access to systems and information, which would particularly benefit staff in remote offices, allowing them to obtain a similar level of service to those in the Guildhall.

Officers informed Members that the new network also improved resilience by removing the current dependence on the Guildhall complex as the hub for IS service provision and increasing access capability at all remote sites.

In response to a query, Members noted that the City’s remote access project combined a number of different technologies to improve the ability of staff to work flexibly and access systems and information outside of the Corporation’s offices. Staff with corporate laptops would be able to work at home, or any other place with an internet connection, as if they were in the office.

Members were informed of the high level vision of joint working with City Police and some of the work in progress to deliver this vision as follows:

• Development of a strategy and approach in partnership with the City

Corporation.

• A portfolio of projects with an initial focus on getting the basics right in

collaboration with the Corporation

• A new operating model.

There were no questions.

There was no other business.

MOTION - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2014

RESOLVED: That the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2014 be approved as an accurate record.

Report of the Chamberlain

The Committee considered the report of the Chamberlain which updated Members on the Economic Development Chief officer Group (EDCOG) who met on 26^th February 2014.

Director of Corporate Services, City of London Police to be heard

The Committee were provided with a verbal update from the Director of Corporate Services and the City of London Police.

There were no non-public questions.

There was no other non-public business.