Agenda and minutes

There were no declaratiions of interest raised by Members.

Context:

To receive the iCounty Strategy Business Plan for 2016/19 for Member scrutiny, along with a report on Monmouthshire County Council’s Digital and Technology service and how it aligns with Monmouthshire County Council’s iCounty, People and Place strategies.

Key Issues:

Technology is moving at pace, and digital services need to keep up with the changes in order for the Council to support sustainable communities and economies. In order to ensure that Monmouthshire County Council captures the benefits of digitization, the iCounty Strategy was developed in April 2014 and was agreed through the Council’s committee approval processes in July 2014.

This is the second year of implementation, and the business plan has evolved and has been refined through learning and experience, as well as through collaborating with partners and organisations across the UK to ensure the strategy is robust and sustainable.

Monmouthshire County Council has achieved some significant developments since iCounty was first approved, and the foundations have been laid for a sustainable ICT infrastructure, Council ICT platforms, digital transformation and digital service provision.

Members Scrutiny:

·         Coding events for young people were being run in Monmouthshire’s schools and in Monmouthshire’s libraries.  Young People need to be digitally enabled to ensure more coders were available in the future.

·         The Alacrity Foundation has put 12 to 16 graduates through its scheme providing training for them to start up their own businesses.  The County Council was working in partnership with Alacrity, which was also working with Monmouthshire’s schools.

·         The Education Achievement Services (EAS) was visiting schools with a view to developing IT and digital strategies.  The Authority was also working closely with the EAS regarding this matter.

·         The Chief Officer, Enterprise stated that computer coding is a national issue and the Enterprise Directorate was working with schools.

·         The Authority was investigating ways to provide Wi-Fi provision for all community halls and youth clubs throughout Monmouthshire via the rural Development (RDP) Fund.

·          An Item should be added to the Select Committee’s Forward Work programme to receive a report in due course regarding ways to directly work with schools regarding computer coding for students, as currently the Directorate is having to work around the curriculum with regard to this matter.

·         There was scope for further talks with the Children and Young People Directorate and schools regarding the need to create a closer link with the way Maths, IT, and Engineering are taught.  These are currently taught under the subject entitled STEM.  This could be included in the report that will be presented to the Select Committee in due course regarding computer coding and potential gaps this the provision of this subject.

·         The Council’s infrastructure is very well controlled by the SRS.

·         The Authority is a Member of the Severn Valley Cyber Launch Pad.

·         There are several pillars to the iCounty Strategy.  It enables the community to access the service and work more easily with the Authority.  The more we digitally enable County Council staff will improve the service that the Authority provides to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

Context:

To receive a Shared Resource Service (SRS) progress update for scrutiny purposes.

Key Issues:

Since the last SRS update the SRS has made significant progress in admitting new partners into the organisation.  The SRS ambition has always been to expand the provision of services to other Public Sector partners.  Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council (BGCBC) has completed and agreed a business case through its own authorisation and committee processes, and all the existing partners have agreed to invite BGCBC to join the SRS. 

The SRS Strategy (2016 – 2020) is focused on consolidating the demand of multiple partners and brokering the supply of single ICT solutions.  The SRS strategy is scalable to support Welsh Government public sector objectives.

The SRS operates with 5 strategic aims to:

1)           Deliver effective ICT services from a single combined unit.

2)           Provide a solid foundation upon which partner organisations can operate in order to improve service delivery.

3)           Ensure the investment in ICT is focused on delivery of the corporate priorities of the partner organisations.

4)           Develop a capable, professional workforce that can meet the challenges within ICT over the coming years.

5)           Provide a collaborative platform for public sector organisations to share digital capacity and capability through shared platforms.

BGCBC has a business need to develop and implement a sustainable service improvement model for its ICT provision that:

·                    Supports the Welsh Government’s objectives for collaboration.

·                    Addresses some of the financial issues that affect the Authority.

·                    Responds to the Authority’s growing delivery needs and previously identified issues.

·                    Future proofs the service.

The SRS Public Board has agreed that accepting a new partner is in line with its strategic aims to grow the business. With the addition of new partners the SRS is able to further achieve economies of scale and realise savings through the equal share of strategic and service management costs.

The challenges experienced by BGCBC offer an opportunity to the SRS to showcase ability, supported by its strategic vision, to realise its potential for public sector collaboration in line with Welsh Government aspirations.

The acceptance of this proposal will generate additional revenue of £163,665 into the SRS to invest in service improvement that will generate efficiency savings for the existing partners.

The SRS is now in negotiations with other Greater Gwent local authorities to further expand the company in line with its objectives and in line with the SRS Strategy 2016/20.

Members Scrutiny:

·         SRS Public Board meeting minutes would be made available to Select Committee for future meetings.

·         Public Sector Broadband Aggregation (PSBA) is a Wales-wide network which connects public sector organisations in Wales to a private secure Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Wide Area Network (WAN).  This is a very good service which prevents local authorities’ data from being stolen.

·         The Authority works with the SRS to ensure that the appropriate tools are available to allow County Council officers to carry out their duties efficiently.  For example, the Authority has officers who have become digital champions and are available across  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.