Agenda item

Cabinet briefing from the Leader.

Cabinet Member Corporate Services to update on Information Security Policy and Revised Procurement Strategy

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services had been asked to attend and provide an update on two items scheduled on the forward plan; Information Security Policy (IPS) and revised Procurement Strategy.  He started by explaining that the IPS had been created between this council and the shared service partner, Forest of Dean District Council and covered a multitude of things including; security passes, PSN compliance and the modern.gov app to name a few.  This process had taken longer than initially anticipated and as such it was likely that this would be taken to Cabinet in December rather than November.  The Procurement Strategy was periodically updated to reflect current regulations and legislation and this too would not be ready for the November Cabinet meeting, but would more likely be taken to the February or March meeting.  The business case for GO Shared Services had identified significant savings in relation to banking charges and the Cabinet Member Corporate Services would soon be in a position to report some good news on this matter. 

Members raised concerns that in an effort to achieve economies of scale and circumvent the OJEU rules, large scale contracts were being created, for which small local contractors were unable to bid.  These members queried whether it was possible to create smaller scale contracts which would allow local contractors to bid for work and whether any research had been undertaken into the cost effectiveness of doing this.  The Cabinet Member would raise these queries with the appropriate officer. 

The Leader talked through a briefing which had been circulated as a supplement to the agenda and highlighted topics that might be of interest to O&S.  He confirmed that the report of the Deprivation scrutiny task group had recently been considered by Cabinet and thanked those members, some of whom had since left the council, for their efforts.  Work on the Cheltenham Economic Development Strategy would be undertaken by Athey Consulting and was due for completion by the end of the year, to fit in with the Cheltenham Plan programme which had recently been agreed.  The Leader apologised that he had been unable to attend the last meeting and as such missed the discussion regarding the company articles for Ubico.  He confirmed that these had now been agreed to allow for other partner councils to join. With regard to the Member Observer status, it was for this council to decide whether it wanted to continue to have an observer at Board meetings and the suggestion was that this matter could be discussed further by the Leader, Cabinet Member Clean and Green Environment and the Chairman of O&S.  The Leader queried whether an annual presentation to all members would be acceptable.   

Councillor Hay voiced his disappointment at the decision not to appoint a politician as a Board Member.  His feeling was that an elected member would be best placed to share public opinion at the Board level.  He welcomed the suggestion of a public AGM. 

A number of members felt that these discussions had reinforced the need to ensure that all members fully understood the various arrangements that were now in place, where powers lay, etc.  It was proposed that a member session should be arranged which mapped out who had powers and where.