Agenda item

Report of the scrutiny task group chaired by Councillor Matt Babbage with a covering report prepared by the Democratic Services Manager

Councillor Babbage, Chair of the Task Group, introduced the report which set out a number of recommendations.  Having considered the draft policy, which was broadly in line with the previous policy, the task group were fully supportive, being of the opinion that it provided clarity on the ICT provision for members, as well as what was expected of members in their use of ICT.  Having given consideration to the business case for iPads the group had agreed to the inclusion of an agreement form, which amongst other things, set out the members commitment, in accepting a council iPad, to moving to paperless meetings.  This was not a decision taken for primarily financial reasons but the group were of the opinion that members with an iPad should not be asking Officers for copies of papers which had been circulated electronically.

One member commented that it was not unreasonable, having provided an expensive piece of kit in the form of an iPad, to cease the issue of paper copies, though there may well be occasions when officers took the decision that some documents were better presented on paper.  Another member queried why there was no mention of members that chose to use their own iPad, not being provided with paper copies.  She felt that this should be the case across the board whether a member is using a council issued iPad or their own.

A member suggested that 3G capability should be available to members on the council iPad as this would facilitate the use of the iPad at other external meetings outside the council offices.

The Democratic Services Manager, along with the Cabinet Member Corporate Services and Councillor Babbage, provided the following answers to member questions;

·         Devices which were 3G enabled were 25% more expensive to buy and had monthly charges associated with them.

·         The option of paying Members an ICT Allowance under the Members Allowance Scheme, which would enable them to buy their own equipment to use for carrying out council business, was explored by the Members Allowance panel earlier in 2014. However advice from One Legal at the time advised that such an allowance was not allowed within the Members Allowance legislation. The recommendations from the panel to Council in December 2014 acknowledged that there was still a need for Members to have access to a PC at home/or in the Council offices for their council work as well as WiFi and home telephone and allocated a sum of £100 per annum to support those facilities as part of the basic allowance. This was agreed by Council.

·         The iPad was never meant as a replacement for a PC, it was only meant for data consumption rather than data creation.  Citrix access was still available to members who wanted to be able to access their account at home.  There was also an option for members to purchase their own equipment, which the report highlighted, would probably be favourable to most members who wanted to use their iPad to its full capability.

·         Modern.Gov did offer an application which would allow access to pink papers but there was an annual fee of £6k associated with this, which was why it was no currently available.  Democratic Services would undertake to negotiate this figure.

·         Two training sessions had been held and Saira Malin, Democracy Officer, had produced a guide to the iPad and Modern.Gov app which was available upon request.  She was also happy to undertake one to one training if members felt that they needed more help, but all technical queries would need to be put directly to ICT. 

The Chairman commended the task group for their work.  He acknowledged that this would be a difficult adjustment for some members and that it was therefore important to support them through this period of change.  Given that there were 3 committee members who were also County Councillors, he urged that the integration of devices be further investigated by the Cabinet Member Corporate Services.

Upon a vote it was unanimously

RESOLVED that the recommendations set out in the Scrutiny Task Group Report be endorsed and Cabinet be recommended to;

1.    Endorse the Members’ ICT Policy and publicise it to all members, thereby demonstrating Cabinet’s support for the move to paperless meetings. 

2.    The recommendations in respect of Members signing up to the policy before accepting a council iPad (including the retrospective requirements) be implemented by the Democratic Services Manager.

3.    The recommendation regarding encouraging Members to participate in training and development designed to enhance their use if ICT equipment and applications provided is taken forward by the Cabinet Member Corporate Services in liaison with ICT and Democratic Services.

4.    The recommendation regarding Members’ ICT provision being kept under review in order to take advantage of new developments in technology is taken forward by the Cabinet Member Corporate Services in liaison with ICT and Democratic Services.