Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Eamonn Mullally, Caroline Haines, and Deputy James Thomson.

Eamonn Mullally observed the meeting virtually.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 13^th November 2024.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 13^th November 2024 be approved as an accurate record, subject to an amendment that virtual attendance be noted below the names of members present.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain concerning the approved Budget 2024/25 and the draft estimate for 2025/26.

A Member noted that there was some inconsistency in the terminology being used in the report, between ‘original budget’ and ‘original draft estimate’. The Member requested that these terms be used more consistently in future reports.

RESOLVED – That the Digital Services Committee:

·       approve the 2025/26 Draft Estimate for submission to the Finance Committee

·       agree that any minor amendments for 2024/25 and 2025/26 Budgets arising during the corporate budget setting period be delegated to the Chamberlain

·       note the approved Budget of £8.819 million for 2024/25

·       note the committee’s capital budgets for 2025/26, as set out in Appendix 2.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain, concerning the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Replacement Project, seeking the approval of a drawdown of £350,000 to complete the audit and replace the devices (such as lift and fire alarm devices) that would pose to its users and the City Corporation.

A Member queried why the replacement of these devices would be managed by the respective service departments. The response was that there was no consistency with the type or brand of hardware used across the City Corporation’s estate (for instance, lifts) so the recommendation was to devolve procurement decisions to the respective service department as there was not a single solution.

A Member was interested in whether a solution (such as mobile signal or fibreoptic) for the PSTN had been identified, and whether alternatives had been costed. The Committee heard that the audit would assess the appropriate solution. Further, if the audit flagged connections which are no longer required, these would be removed.

It was asked whether mobile network failure would affect communication with infrastructure that uses mobile signal. The Committee were assured that there are mechanisms in place to deal with such events, and the response is robust and tested. This was further discussed in non-public session.

A Member made comments on the structure of the report, noting that it made the requested decisions unclear. This point was acknowledged and well understood by officers, and it was noted to the Committee that comments on the project report would be considered as part of a future review of the template of project reports.

RESOLVED – That the Digital Services Committee:

·       approve a Budget drawdown of £350,000 to allow for the migration of high priority analogue lines and devices ahead of the completion of the PSTN audit

·       note that the total

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk concerning the Annual Review of the Terms of Reference of the Digital Services Committee. Following its last Committee meeting, during which it was suggested that the Terms of Reference be amended to reflect that data breaches, when they occur, are reported to the Digital Services Committee. Officers took this action away for consideration and to draft appropriate wording.

During the discussion, a Member expressed concerns that the proposed amendment to section 4, paragraph (d) was not made clear that non-digital data breaches should also be included in the Terms of Reference.

The Committee’s suggested removing the wording in parentheses in section 4, paragraph (d), and adding the wording “digital systems and all data protection issues”. It was agreed that approval of the final wording be delegated to the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Committee.

RESOLVED – That the Digital Services Committee Delegate Authority to the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chair and Deputy Chair, to approve and submit the amended Terms of Reference of the Digital Services Committee to the Court of Common Council in 2025, subject to the comments captured above, and that any further changes required in the lead up to the Court’s appointment of Committees be delegated to the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chair and Deputy Chair.

Joint report of the Chamberlain and Chief People Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief People Officer and the Chamberlain concerning an update on the progress made on the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Programme.

The Committee received a presentation on the latest progress of the ERP Programme, which included a change matrix that demonstrated solution complexity and eventual recommendations to matters arising from the project.

During the discussion, a Member was interested in the effect that resourcing for the ERP Programme on HR. The Member was advised that while there were other large programmes that HR were working on, centralised HR was currently in a positive space in terms of balancing their resources. There was some difficulty with resourcing and backfilling in the institutions which were currently being worked through.

A question was raised about whether the schedule for the ERP Programme would be impacted by the date of Ambition25 being deferred due to the data cleansing issues. The response was that Ambition25 project had demonstrated the data quality was not at the required level, and the level of correction was higher than anticipated. The challenge was to ensure the data from Ambition25 remained up to date while transferring to the new ERP system.

The Committee sought and were provided reassurance that the “adopt not adapt” mantra was being followed in the ERP Programme.

RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain concerning the City of London Police (COLP) Device Refresh.

The Committee were reminded that the Device Refresh aimed for staff to have a consistent experience with their devices across the organisation. Given that the COLP had devices that were end of life, a decision was sought under urgency procedures from the Police Authority Board in late 2024 to allow for the drawdown of funds to place the order for the devices.

A main risk identified was that Windows 11 readiness work would not be completed before the device roll out. A Member queried why this was the case. It was explained that the new devices would have the Windows 11 build, and this risk would reduce as the devices were being rolled out.

RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain, concerning the service delivery summary for the Digital, Information and Technology Service.

A query was raised about the power disruption to a firewall noted in the report. The Committee heard that a major investigation into the root cause of the issue was undertaken following the disruption and the cause of the outage could not be determined. It was noted that this was a brief outage and there had not been any further issues. This was discussed further in non-public.

RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain concerning an update on the progress against the 2024/25 Business Plan for the Digital, Information and Technology Service.

RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted.

The Committee heard a verbal report concerning an update on the City of London Police (COLP) Organisational Level Agreement (OLA).

The Committee heard that a review had been conducted of COLP’s current operating model, which had concluded in January 2025. The next steps were to review the findings and recommend changes which would shape the OLA and its service standards. This meant that there would be clear definitions of roles and responsibilities. It was further noted that there were changes across policing nationally with proposals for a national police headquarters, of which IT may be one of the first adopters. COLP and the City Corporation therefore needed ensure that it aligned with this national work.

The Chair emphasised the importance that the new OLA includes clearly outlined of roles and responsibilities as this has been lacking previously.

RESOLVED – That the verbal report be received.

There were no public questions.

There were no public 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 13^th November 2024.

RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes of the previous meeting held on 13^th November 2024 be approved as an accurate record.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain, concerning the Future Network Programme.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain, concerning the procurement options appraisal for the Future Network Programme.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain, concerning an update on the risks faced by the Digital, Information and Technology Service (DITS).

Report of the Chief Information Security Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Information Security Officer, concerning an update on cyber security.

Report of the Chamberlain.

Note – During this item, the Committee agreed that, under Standing Order 40, the meeting be extended in order to conclude its business.

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain, concerning AI Agents which had been developed by the Digital, Information and Technology Service (DITS).

One non-public question was raised.

There were no other non-public items of urgent business.

To agree the confidential minutes of the meeting held on 13^th November 2024.

RESOLVED – That the confidential minutes of the previous meeting held on 13^th November 2024 be approved as an accurate record.