Agenda item

Report No: OAS/SE/19/007

On 7 March 2018, the Committee received a presentation from the Cabinet Member for Resources and Performance, setting out responsibilities covered under his portfolio.

At this meeting, the Cabinet Member had been invited back to provide his annual update, and Report No: OAS/SE/19/007 set out the focus of the update.  The Cabinet Member was also provided in advance of the meeting with some key questions identified by scrutiny members on areas they wished to be appraised on during the annual update, which were included in the report along with responses.

The Cabinet Member, Councillor Ian Houlder thanked the Committee for the invitation and the questions submitted, as set out in the report.  He explained that from 1 April 2019, the new West Suffolk Council email address would become a primary email address for all councillors.  The report set out information on “Bring Your Own Devices” (BYODs) and the need to be technically up to date.  The Learning and Development team was developing the new member induction/training for all councillors after the election.  Finally, ICT had been looking at the interface of the Intranet to make it easier for councillors to use.

The Committee asked a number of follow-up questions, in particular:

·         Post-election: newly elected members receiving their electronic devices swiftly and the ability to receive emails from day one;

·         Length of time to upgrade equipment, and the ability to bring in and swop devices;

·         Password notifications/resetting;

·         Treasury management: interest on the value of capital.

The Portfolio Holder and officers responded to the questions, and confirmed that the ICT team was looking at a number of options to make it as smooth a process as possible for all councillors.  ICT had looked at Airwatch; BYODs, having emails ready in a couple of hours following the election; and support for councillors if devices were not working.  It was recognised that the upgrade to Windows 10 had been particularly challenging.  All new devices would also be pre-installed with the software councillors required.    

In response to a question raised regarding passwords running out, officers explained that ICT was looking at self-serve password resets and how best this could be rolled out to councillors.  Officers would also look at providing guidance on how to change passwords.

A member of the Committee advised that Suffolk County Council had recently changed to having annual passwords, to which officers agreed to follow this up with the Infrastructure Manager with regards to annual password changes for West Suffolk.

In response to a question on treasury management, the Portfolio Holder explained that he reported on interest received quarterly to the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee.  Interest rates remained at an historic low.  The council had recently changed Treasury Advisors to Arlingclose Ltd.  Members were reminded that in the future the council would start to move into a borrowing position. 

A member of the committee wished it to be noted that her computer had failed several times, but the ICT team were wonderful and so patient in resolving the issues.

The Chairman on behalf of the Committee thanked the Cabinet Member and officers for their attendance and noted the update.