Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Tim Levene and Alderman Sir Andrew Parmley.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes of the meeting held on 2 November 2018.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 2 November 2018 be approved as a correct record subject to the following change:

·         That Deputy Hugh Morris’ apologies for that meeting be noted.

The Chairman advised that he would be adding his electronic signature to the minutes in due course.

Joint report of the Town Clerk and Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee received a joint report of the Town Clerk and the Chamberlain outlining outstanding actions from the previous meetings.

The Chairman took this opportunity to advise the Sub-Committee that items 8 and 19 from that day’s agenda had been withdrawn. In addition, Members were informed that there had been some movement on the items and that item 21 and item 28 were to be moved into the public session.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The report be noted.

Joint report of the Town Clerk and Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee received a joint report of the Town Clerk and the Chamberlain concerning a forecast of events relevant to the Digital Services Sub Committee.

Members commented on the June 2019 session regarding ‘New Ways of Working

Review’ that the timing of the session seemed to be too late and that the correct terminology to use was ‘smart’ working. In addition, Members agreed that a yearly plan, rather than quarterly, would be better focused and more useful for Members to receive, and it be noted that the programme would be flexible.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The forward plan be noted.

Presentation

The Sub-Committee heard a presentation from the Chamberlain regarding his department’s digital adoption.

Members heard how the Chamberlain’s Department had been recognised as a leading example and enabler for digital change within the organisation. The Chamberlain mentioned highlights including:

- That through the IT Transformation Programme, the department delivered 2,600 Windows 10 devices and 936 mobile devices to the organisation.

- In the Chamberlain’s department, this included a move to 100% laptops, encouraging more staff to work flexibly through providing greater agility to work anytime and from anywhere. The Chamberlain reported that his department was the primary adopter for Skype for Business (65%) and SharePoint (59%).

A Member raised concerns that in light of the digital approach for service users, consideration was needed for some residents, who were not computer literate and may feel isolated, as a result. The Chamberlain assured the Sub-Committee that the City Corporation was intending on encouraging residents to use the online services but not to make this mandatory. The Chairman also referenced the grants given by the City Bridge Trust to programmes that help those who need to enhance their digital skills across London.

A Member commented that other local authorities have had issues with their data collection proformas where fields are made mandatory, which legally have no mandatory basis. He urged the City Corporation to be careful in terms of how it asked for personal information online.

Lastly, a Member encouraged the Chamberlain to think about measuring the effectiveness and customer experience of online services. The Chamberlain reported an increase of improved responses to feedback surveys from customers and work that was being undertaken to drive down costs to services to ensure that it can be maintained.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The presentation be noted.

Presentation

The Subcommittee received a presentation from the Head of Corporate Strategy and Performance, which gave an overview on the Digital Strategic Framework at a corporate level. The presentation emphasised that the Digital Strategic Framework would lead towards a more user-friendly service, more choices with lower costs and assist City Corporation departments to deliver more for less.

Members then made the following key points:

- It was important to avoid jargon such as “add value” and be clear on what specific outcomes would be;

- Questions were raised over the use of the term “strategic” and discussed whether the framework was tactical;

- Important to see alignment of different digital services and how the City Corporation would prioritise individual services.

RESOLVED, that:

-The presentation be noted.

Joint Report of the Town Clerk and the Chamberlain

Item 8 was withdrawn from the agenda.

The Committee considered a report of the Comptroller and City Solicitor, which provided a general update on the progress of phase two of the GDPR/DPA Implementation Project and the planned outcomes for the final phase of the work to embed GDPR/DPA implementation into the City Corporation.

Members heard how the Finance Committee and Policy & Resources Committee would be considering a change in the terms of reference of the Digital Services Sub Committee to ensure that all physical and mechanical breaches of GDPR would be reported to this Sub-Committee. It was noted that the Chairman of the Audit and Risk Management Committee also received notice of ICO breach reports as they happened and members requested that they receive updates of detailed reports every six months.

A Member, noting that the Electoral Services Team had not completed their self-audit, stressed the importance of the Team to check its cloud based services would not be affected by moving out of the European Economic Area after Brexit. The Member also noted that it was important that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)’s advice be clarified, as an organisation would need specific reasons to explain why it had missed the 72 hour window to report a GDPR breach.

The Chairman commended the Comptroller & City Solicitor on his recent GDPR accreditation.

A Member noticed that there appeared to be compliance issues with Human Resources and Department of Built Environment. The Comptroller reassured the Member that some of these red risks were ready to be moved to amber, and that he expected green status to move to 80% across the City Corporation.

In addition, Members heard how the Barbican Estate had been breaking down barriers by translating information to non-English speakers who live in the Barbican so that they understood the importance of data security.

The Sub-Committee expressed

Report of the Chamberlain

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain on CR 16 Information Security Risk.

A Member asked for further clarification on the delineation of CR16 and the risk relating to GDPR. Members heard that the information security policies were incorporated into other policies (such as the Social Media policy).   

RESOLVED – that the Sub Committee:

·         note the report;

·         agree that the risk can be recommended to the Audit and Risk Committee to be  moved to Amber.

Report of the Chamberlain

The Sub Committee received a report of the Chamberlain regarding a summary of the IT Service’s recent delivery.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted.

Report of the Chamberlain

The Sub Committee received a report of the Chamberlain updating Members on IT risks.

Members welcomed the active management of a risk register and asked for further analysis to be circulated electronically outside of the meeting.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Communications

The Sub Committee received a report of the Director of Communications on the progress of the new website.

Members heard how a supplier for the website had now been selected and a Project Manager from the supplier was working closely with the City Corporation.

Following a comment, it was also reported that the chosen supplier had the facility to maintain the website platform using software that is regularly refreshed and updated.

A Member reported that the maintenance of the current website took longer than advertised the previous weekend and that the holding message should have been updated to reflect this.

Members were in agreement that the search engine on the current website was not fit for purpose, therefore the search engine would be a test to see how successful the new website would be.

Members discussed that whilst the Public Relations and Economic Development Sub Committee would also receive updates on the website in respect of its content, it was important that this Sub Committee also received an update if the project is under schedule or over budget in six months’ time.

.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Chamberlain on Microsoft Licencing and Cloud productivity suite (Office 365).

A Member noted that Office 365 is widely used by other Local Authorities but that some of those Local Authorities found they had legal issues around the location of where the servers for Office 365 were hosted.. The Director of IT was asked to verify the location for the City  Corporation’s servers.  

At this point, the Chairman moved item 21 and item 28 into the public session.

Report of the Chamberlain

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain updating Members on progress with the Smart Working  Programme.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted.

Report of the Chamberlain

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain updating Members on progress in the implementation and adoption of the Markets Stock Control Software.

RESOLVED – that:

·         The report be noted;

·         The report be shared with the Markets Committee

There were no questions.

There was one item of other business. The Chairman took the opportunity to introduce Rofikul Islam to the Sub Committee as its new committee clerk.

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 2 November 2018.

That the non-public minute and summary of the meeting held on 2 November 2018 be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Chamberlain

Item 19 had been withdrawn.

At this point, the Chairman agreed to take items 22 and 27.

Report of the Chamberlain

The Sub Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain concerning the City Corporation’s contract with Agilisys, which was due to expire on 31 August 2020. 

Joint report by Chamberlain and the Commissioner of City of London Police

The Sub Committee received a joint report of the Chamberlain and the Commissioner of the City of London Police on the City  Corporation’s IT Service 2020 Contract.

Joint Report of the Chamberlain and the Commissioner of the City of London Police

The Committee received a joint report of the Chamberlain and the Commissioner of the City of London Police concerning City of London Police IT Modernisation Managed Desktop and Office 365.

Joint Report of the Chamberlain and the Commissioner of the City of London Police

The Committee received a joint report of the Chamberlain and the Commissioner of the City of London Police regarding the CoLP IT Modernisation Security Zone.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children Services on the Housing Management System Upgrade.

Report of the Chamberlain

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain on the increase of contract value for Midland iTrent HR and Payroll system’s extension.

Joint report of the Chamberlain and City of London Police

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain and the Commissioner of the City of London Police updating Members on the current position of the Home Office’s National Policing Programmes and local projects. 

Report of the Chamberlain

To Follow

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain concerning the Synectic Complaint Waiver.

There were no non-public questions.

There was no other non-public business.