Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Hugh Morris.

The Chairman welcomed Sean Green, the new Director and Matt Gosden, the new Deputy Director to the meeting.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 25 November 2016.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and non-public summary of the previous meeting were approved as an accurate record, following the addition of the following to Item 10:

“Structured Interviews would be conducted”.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk which provided details of actions outstanding from previous meetings. It was noted that a workshop in the transformation programme would be held on the 3^rd February from 1:00pm at the Guildhall.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Joint report of the Town Clerk and Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and Chamberlain outlining the proposed work plan for 2017. Items added since the last meeting had been highlighted and it was reported that the standing items would be removed for clearer analysis going forward.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain providing an update on the recent activity of the IT Division. The Chamberlain reported that the previous year’s activity had been in preparation of the service improvements due to take place in 2017/18. There were six reasons to have confidence in the department’s ability to enact change. The first was the strong leadership team which was in place, and the recruitment of the new Director and Deputy Director providing a clear organisation structure. The second was the development of the draft strategy which had seen strong support from both Members and Senior Officers. The third was the budget uplift which had been agreed for the current year and 2017/18. There was a recognition that there had been under investment in the past. The next reason was the greater understanding of the departmental risk and the mitigation measures that would need to be put in place to mitigate it. The strengthening partnership within the team and between Members and Senior Officer was a further reason, and the last was felt to be the positive results seen in the performance statistics for this quarter.

Despite the positive results, it was acknowledged that the division could not be complacent, however it was anticipated that the service would see a significant improvement by the end of 2017. In response to a query from a Member it was confirmed that the additional £8.1-8.4 million predicted would cover phase 1-3 of the improvement works. It was likely the final figure would be approximately £10 million as first predicted.

Members undertook to provide a breakdown of workforce numbers of the previous years, including the levels pre- Agilisys for comparison to the current levels. The current Agilisys workforce would also be provided. It was noted that although it was useful

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain detailing the recent developments in the implementation of the transformation programme, as well as the first draft of the IT Strategy. In 2016 an audit of all sites and equipment had been undertaken and an investigation had been carried out on how infrastructure could better support the user experience. This audit had informed the development of designs for the new desktop service and network replacement, the implementation of which was on track. The Strategy had been developed to support this work, and an equivalent police strategy was currently being drafted.In response to a query from a Member it was confirmed that both strategies would be finalised by March 2017.

It was reported that the ways of working pilot had been delayed to allow time for the transformation programme to be completed, and resilience had been built into the system to support the changes that would be required. The introduction of Office 365 would support the ways of working pilot and improve the user experience, which was still often slow and frustrating despite recent service level improvements.

A Member queried the inclusion of Microsoft in the strategy, given that the following Item sought options on the procurement of licenses for a new suite of products and it was agreed that the strategy should not be provider specific.

A Member further queried the cost neutrality of the desktop upgrade and introduction of Office 365. It was reported that fewer servers, and a reduction in complexity of products for example by removing the enterprise vault from outlook, would balance the additional hosting cost and cost of implementation.

RESOLVED – That Members endorse the draft strategy, and that the report be noted.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Chamberlain seeking permission to undertake a options appraisal for the re-procurement of the Microsoft Licensing and Cloud productivity suite or other open source alternative. Gateway 3 of the report would be presented to the next meeting of the group for approval.

Members were concerned that the any other options, identified as including Google, Open Office and xxx, may not be viable in the timeframe identified for the project, and felt that a more realistic options appraisal would focus on options within the Microsoft Suite. Officers reported that a hybrid option would signify a move away from the platform based architecture which presented the greatest efficiency for organisations such as the Corporation, and would come with considerable cost and maintenance. Members felt that there was a danger of over dependency on Microsoft and that there could be cost implications of being tied to one provider.

In response to a query from a Member it was confirmed that there would be no cost benefit to including the City of London Police in the appraisal, as prices were set and not based on volume.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain updating them on the financial position of the IT division. The Chamberlain reported that it was now acknowledged that investment in IT was required to enable departmental savings elsewhere.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted. 

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain providing Members with an update on the performance of the IT service for the Corporation and the City of London Police. It was reported that both service desk satisfaction and first time fixes had improved since the last meeting of the Committee, and the Priority 1 and 2 level incidents had reduced.  In response to a query from a Member, it was explained that the reason behind the upturn in the service desk performance was due to greater training and a reinforcement of the systems team. Members were supportive of the service desk manager undertaking regular visits to the Corporation.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted. 

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 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 25 November 2016.

The non-public minutes of the last meeting were approved as an accurate record.

Joint report of the Town Clerk and Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee noted a report of the Town Clerk which provided information of outstanding actions from previous meetings.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain updating them on the Division’s risk management and mitigation activity since the last meeting.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain outlining recent activity in relation to IT security and management.

The Chamberlain provided a response to a query in relation to the Agilisys contract.

There was no other non-public business.

To agree the confidential minutes of the meeting held on 25 November 2016.

Report of the Chamberlain.