The Vale of Glamorgan Council

Democratic Services Committee: 18th October 2017

To inform Members of any new developments or issues within the ICT service and how they relate to the services provided to them.

That Members note the content of the report.

To ensure Members are made aware of any developments to their ICT Service to the wider Council.

The Committee's terms of reference include responsibility for overseeing the Council's approach to Member Development. As part of its role, the Committee has agreed that a Members' ICT update be a standing item on the agenda for each meeting.

A period of four months has passed since Elected Members were provided with their ICT equipment and associated training, which was designed to enable them to carry out their duties effectively and efficiently over the forthcoming 5 years.
The ICT Service has seen very little demand from Members in terms of support requirements in this period over and above providing the business as usual support service. This is testament to the planning that went in to the specification of the equipment and the organised manner in which the equipment was disseminated.
Both Members and officers are governed by policy in terms of how ICT equipment provided by the Council can be used, to ensure no ICT security vulnerabilities are introduced to the Council's computer network and that any personal data used to perform their respective functions is managed and processed securely and for the purpose it was originally gathered.
As a Vale of Glamorgan ICT user it was crucial that the Council had Members' responses to the ICT Code of Conduct so, as an organisation, the Council could ensure that all users were educated in the remit of the code and operate safely and professionally within the Council's network.
It was decided that the quickest and most cost effective method of retrieving responses was by activating an electronic meta-compliance policy, the response to which is described in the bullet points below:

almost 50% of Members responded within the first week
39 (82.98%) of the 47 Members responded electronically.
the 8 members (17.02%) that had not responded to the electronic meta-compliance message to date were sent a paper copy of the ICT Code of Conduct and a covering letter requesting their response as soon as possible.
All 47 Members have agreed to the terms of the ICT Code of Conduct. The primary reason for the response period being longer than expected was due to the electronic meta-compliance message displaying after 60 minutes of laptop use. This would have impacted on any Members who were not engaging regularly with the laptop provided and/or using the device for periods of 60 minutes or more.

The Council's third Print Strategy proposal will be put before Cabinet on 23rd October, to seek approval to let a tender for the supply of a corporate managed print service before the end of March 2018, which is when the current contract expires.
The Print Strategy will help facilitate a further reduction in the requirement to print hard copy documents across the Council. Elected Members are already leading by example in this respect by using their Council provided ICT equipment to view electronic versions of Committee agendas, minutes and reports; eventually eliminating the need to print hard copy documents for meetings entirely.
As previously reported, the ICT Service restructure was completed on 1st June 2017. Following this process, ten posts on the new structure remained vacant. The recruitment process is progressing well with a number of appointments having already been made, and with a number of interviews arranged for the near future. It is anticipated, therefore that the new ICT Service structure will be fully populated before the end of December 2017.

A reduction in the number of Multi Function print Devices (MFDs) in the print estate will reduce the carbon dioxide output generated by the Council.
A reduction in the number of MFDs in the print estate will also reduce the amount of power required to run the devices.

There are no equal opportunity implications that arise as a result of this report.

To exercise robust financial management and explore all opportunities to improve efficiency and service quality including collaborative working.
To deliver cost-effective support and service desk function to monitor performance, meet customer needs and communicate effectively.

The terms of reference of the Committee include responsibility for overseeing the Council's approach to Member Development, including Member ICT.

Previous reports to Democratic Services Committee on Members' ICT

Nick Wheeler - Operational Manager (ICT)

Head of Finance

Head of Democratic Services

Principal Democratic and Scrutiny Services Officer

Rob Thomas - Managing Director