Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Corporate Services (30 mins)

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services introduced the report. At the Economy and Business Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on the 23 May 2011, Members had asked for a Value for Money Review on the use of mobile technology within the council. The review had resulted in;

• confirming that the council’s contract for the supply and operation of its mobile communication devices remains competitive
• identifying additional efficiency and financial savings
• the revising of the Mobile Phone principles and protocol

He highlighted that the appendix 2, Quarterly Scenario had been included in error in the papers for this meeting and should be disregarded.

In the discussions that followed, there were concerns regarding the significant number of phones where there was zero usage. Members were advised that these were often for health and safety reasons or to enable emergency contact to be made but it was suggested that staff could use their own mobile phone in that situation. There was also a significant risk that without regular checks, the phone may not be charged or fully functional when it was required.  In response, officers advised that the current mobile phone policy excluded the option of use of personal phones but it was appropriate to revisit this and also include some type of regular assurance checks.

Members were reassured that there was no automatic qualification for having a mobile phone or Blackberry and every request had to be justified in terms of business need.

A member asked whether their own ICT requirements could be better satisfied through a Blackberry rather than a council laptop which was currently issued to members.  The Cabinet Member Corporate Services advised that ICT support for members was currently being reviewed and a seminar was being planned in the next two months to understand how members work and how their needs could best be satisfied

Another member highlighted the large gap between rental usage and call charges which seemed to suggest that there were too many phones being allocated. There was also a challenge regarding whether a Pay as you Go tariff would be cheaper as the report seemed to suggest this would be more expensive.

In response officers advised that the mobile phone protocol does not normally allow Pay as you Go but this would be reviewed.

In response to further questions, officers advised that quite a number of phones had been withdrawn from officers as a result of this review and the review had recorded a small number of phones had been lost or damaged, although no Blackberries had been lost.

Members were advised that phones were on a two-year contract so when a member of staff left and the contract was still running, a decision was taken on whether to pass on the phone to another member of staff or cancel the contract. Members suggested that given the significant number of phones, the council should be looking to adopt a more flexible contract where there was effectively a single contract for all the phones. In response, officers advised that the contract was due for review in the New Year and the council’s Procurement Officer would be working to negotiate the optimum contract to meet the  council's needs.

In response to a question, members were advised that the phones for Cheltenham Festivals and Cheltenham Borough Homes referred to in paragraph 3 .11 of the report were administered by the council.  A member expressed concern that if the phones were lost and key data was put at risk, the council could be legally responsible. Officers agreed to review this.

The Director Resources was keen to point out to members that he had a Blackberry and the benefits of having one. Although he did not make a huge amount of calls, it enabled him to manage his e-mails, his diary and be in contact outside office hours. In that respect it was an invaluable tool and he received no reimbursement from the council for his time spent using it which was frequently in the evenings, early mornings and at weekends. In the new commissioning structure it was essential that senior managers across the organisation could keep in touch and manage workloads effectively.

The chair concluded that it had been a very worthwhile exercise and he hoped that the information presented  satisfied both the committee and members of the public who had challenged the usage of mobile communications.

Resolved that a further report be brought back to members in six months time to include consideration being given to staff using their own personal phones, figures on turnover of phones, multi-phone contracts and updates on all the issues that had been raised during this meeting.