Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member Corporate Services

RESOLVED THAT

the Modernisation Case for Change be approved.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services explained that the purpose of the modernisation programme was to deliver a positive customer experience by being a digitally enabled council whose employees have a commercial mind-set and appropriate expertise to deliver our priorities.

In practice this meant that by utilising existing technologies, the council could take a ‘Digital by Design’ approach, meaning residents and other customers could interact with the council in a manner that they preferred and at times that convenienced them. Digital by Design did not mean that other contact channels would not be available, but that digital would become the preferred choice for communicating and dealing with the council. This also meant that staff would have more meaningful data when setting priorities and would help them make more informed decisions when helping customers, members and other council employees.

The Cabinet Member explained that the versatility offered by being more digitally enabled meant a shift towards more flexible working practices for council staff could be promoted; enabling them to work from different locations and improve their work-life balance by giving them the option to work from home, reducing the council’s office space requirements and the overhead costs associated with it.

It also meant that, in order to help us fulfil our ambitious agenda to improve our town and support local residents, the council needed to be working as efficiently and effectively as possible, so it was necessary to make sure the benefits that digital technology provided was maximised.

This also meant efficiency in how we utilise our financial resources, and the Cabinet Member reported that a number of potential savings had already been identified, such as an estimated £55,000 per year from a change in telephone contracts alone. As the council needed to continue to make savings to support objectives set out in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, a minimum target saving of £300,000 had been set which could be allocated for new or pre-existing projects, or could be reinvested back into the professional develop and training of staff.

Finally, the Cabinet Member said that the modernisation programme was an exciting one, and he wished to thank all officers, in particular the Executive Director People and Change, for their hard work in putting this report together.

The Leader added that it was important that progress was made so the public could derive the benefits from modernisation.

RESOLVED THAT

the Modernisation Case for Change be approved.