Agenda item

Purpose: To provide Executive with a high level overview of the various sections of the Council’s new 3-year ICT & Digital Services Strategy

Resolved that the West Berkshire Council ICT & Digital Services Strategy 2017-2020 be approved.

This decision is eligible to be ‘called-in’.  However, if the decision has not been ‘called-in’ by 5.00pm on 22 June 2017, then it will be implemented.

The Executive considered a report (Agenda Item 7) which provided a high level overview of the various sections of the Council’s new three year ICT and Digital Services Strategy.

Councillor Dominic Boeck introduced the report and explained that the time had come to replace the existing three year Strategy with this new Strategy that would cover the period 2017 to 2020.

Councillor Boeck explained that there were a number of opportunities arising for West Berkshire from the new Strategy. This was particularly the case when considering the excellent superfast broadband coverage that was being introduced by Gigaclear, with coverage close to 100% being achieved by year end. Only a small number of homes would be without superfast access (in the tens).

It was also the case that four out of five residents owned and regularly used a smart phone and/or other digital asset.

The above two points would enable residents to perform more digital transactions.

ICT was also the catalyst for many changes, and would greatly aid the Council in providing more efficient and effective services.

Councillor Lee Dillon referred to discussions held at the Resources Select Committee in January 2017 on the Strategy. At that time he raised the potential to procure ICT systems etc jointly with other local authorities. He noted that there was concern with doing so as a result of contracts in different areas ending at different times, but he felt that this was something that Officers should be asked to explore further and should be a consideration as part of the Strategy. Cost effectiveness and potential for savings did feature within the Strategy, but this did not specifically cover joint procurement.

Councillor Dillon was pleased to note the customer centric focus of the Strategy. As stated in the Strategy, this would benefit internal and external customers, including residents. However, access was a key component of this focus with more services moving online and it was important to not lose sight of residents without internet access, i.e. the elderly and vulnerable residents, to ensure they could access services. There was a potential role for the voluntary and community sector to assist/train these residents.

Councillor Boeck stated that these were good points. He would continue to work closely with the ICT Service and the potential for joint procurement would be an element of that. Councillor Boeck added his agreement to the need to be conscious of people who were unable to access services online to ensure their service delivery was not negatively affected.

Councillor Alan Macro was disappointed at the lack of reference to specific digital developments. He also raised concerns with the search facility on the Council’s website, but the Strategy did not propose any improvements in that respect.

Councillor Macro then queried whether the costs of Gigaclear, in comparison to other providers, i.e. Virgin, were a barrier to developments. Gigaclear cost £12 more per month per individual contract than Virgin. Councillor Boeck explained that this was not a straight forward comparison. Gigaclear was a new organisation who were working on today’s prices, whereas the costs for Virgin, a long established organisation, were based on a legacy network.

Councillor Macro raised a concern in relation to 4G ‘not-spots’ in areas without a strong signal. This would be a barrier to digital services. Councillor Boeck explained that this was beyond the Council’s control.

Councillor Macro noted that an ICT Cloud would be used for back up purposes. He encouraged enhancing this for storage. Councillor Boeck noted this good point.

Councillor Macro felt there was a need to manage expectation levels, specifically an expectation that online Council services could be accessed anytime/anywhere. This level of response would not be possible and could be compromised by ICT upgrades. Councillor Boeck stated that a 24/7 type response had never been promoted and there was not therefore an expectation that this would be available.

Councillor Billy Drummond explained that superfast broadband coverage did not include Greenham. This was a concern for Greenham residents.

Councillor Graham Jones commended the Strategy. The Council needed a robust Strategy that enabled good digital access, balanced with a robust security network. He agreed however with the importance of ensuring services remained available for residents without access to online services.

RESOLVED that the West Berkshire Council ICT & Digital Services Strategy 2017-2020 be approved.