Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Randall Anderson, Graham Packham, Chris Punter, Alderman Matthew Richardson and Deputy John Tomlinson.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 20 October 2015.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 20 October 2015 be approved as an accurate record.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Sub-Committee considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and Chamberlain which provided an update on outstanding actions from previous meetings of the Sub-Committee.

The Chamberlain provided Members with an update regarding the potential to use Microsoft Outlook on iPads, which was subject to PSN compliance. The Chamberlain advised that it may also be necessary to move to a two factor authentication process for web-based emails in order to tighten security and maintain PSN Compliance.

Members discussed this, the current security of the Good App for Corporation emails and the information security issues of using personal email addresses to access non-public Corporation information. Members noted that this was a risk, but noted that guidance from the Information Commissioner identified this risk as only applying to how the data received at a Member’s personal email address was used. Members also noted that while there was a Government standard to avoid the use of personal email addresses for Government business, this was rarely enforced.

Members also noted that they had not received the IT Newsletter. The Chamberlain agreed to ensure that this was provided to Members.

RESOLVED – That the Sub-Committee notes the report.

Report of the Chamberlain. This report will also be considered by the Finance Committee on 15 December 2015.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain which provided an update on the performance of the Information Technology Division over the previous quarter.

The Chamberlain provided Members with further information regarding the power outage which had affected IT service provision on the 23 November and the interruption to internet connectivity, caused by a fibre break, which had occurred on the 11 December. The Chamberlain advised that following on from the power outage, further planned maintenance had been required to rectify faults with both Fire Control System and the Uninterruptable Power Supply. This maintenance had successfully completed overnight on the 11/12 December.

The Sub-Committee discussed the service outages noted that the outages implied that there was not sufficient resilience within the IT systems to ensure that they could continue to operate in adverse situations, and had also demonstrated exactly how vulnerable the Corporation’s operations were to loss of IT services. The Chamberlain agreed that there was not sufficient resilience, with a number of areas reliant on single points of failure, with some of these being aging components. The Chamberlain highlighted that the Sub-Committee was asked to consider three reports within the non-public part of the agenda to progress projects which would seek to improve the IT infrastructure and build in more resilience.

The Sub-Committee agreed that due to IT being integral to the organisation, the Sub-Committee should be provided with updates on the improvements to the resilience of IT services at every meeting.

The Sub-Committee also requested that the Outstanding Actions report be updated to include details of agenda items for future meetings

RESOLVED – That the Sub-Committee:

a)    notes the report.

b)    requests that an update on improvements to the resilience of IT services be provided to every Sub-Committee meeting.

c)    requests that the Outstanding Actions report be updated

To receive a presentation from Agilisys.

The Sub-Committee received a presentation from Agilisys providing an update on service performance. The presentation provided information about the Service Improvement Plan, which had arisen from the Joint Operational Review. The Service Improvement Plan incorporated initiatives in Governance and Engagement, People and Processes, and Technology Improvement.

Members asked questions about the relocation of the Service Desk function to Rochdale, and particularly queried whether the staff at that site were familiar with the specific requirements of the City of London Corporation. The Agilisys representatives advised the Sub-Committee that Service Desk staff were given specific training regarding the Corporation so that they were aware of the particular operational and reputational requirements of resolving issues.

Members asked for a definition of the abandoned call rate, which was cited within the presentation. Members were advised that this referred to calls which were terminated by the caller, without being answered after more than 30 seconds. It was explained that this level, which was lower than with the previous Service Desk arrangements, could be further reduced by employing more Service Desk staff, although this would clearly have a cost implication.

RESOLVED – That the Sub-Committee notes the presentation.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent 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 Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Item No                                                          Paragraph(s) in Schedule 12A

10-14                                                              3

Report of the Chamberlain. This report will also be considered by the Projects Sub-Committee on 26 January 2016.

The Sub-Committee considered and approved a Gateway 4/5 report of the Chamberlain which provided a programme update for the Joint Network Refresh Programme (JNRP) for the Corporation and the City of London Police, and sought authority to progress the joint Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) proposals to the next Gateway for the LAN project.

Report of the Chamberlain. This report will also be considered by the Projects Sub-Committee on 26 January 2016.

The Sub-Committee considered and approved a Gateway 4/5 report of the Chamberlain which provided a detailed options appraisal of the End User Device Refresh Programme.

Report of the Chamberlain. This report will also be considered by the Projects Sub-Committee on 26 January 2016.

The Sub-Committee considered and approved a Gateway 1/2 report of the Chamberlain which set out proposals for a Unified Communications Project.

There were no non-public questions.

There were no items of urgent business.