Issue - meetings

This report provides details of the Epsom & Ewell Borough Council Information Technology Strategy for 2023 and beyond.  The IT Strategy defines the principles, governance, standards and methodology by which the council will source, procure, implement, maintain and deliver IT services both internally (to staff and partners) and externally (to residents). This report details also the accompanying IT Roadmap for 2023-2027.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Agree the IT Strategy, and the associated plan to invest in a programme of works as set out in the IT Roadmap.

(2)      To note that the works to include; a refresh of end user devices for officers, a programme of works to update infrastructure and move to a hosted data centre and transformational projects to improve and increase online services to residents.

(3)      Approve the indicative funding implications for delivering the defined IT Roadmap in 2023-2027, as set out in section 5 of the report, which will feed into the Medium-Term Financial Strategy to be approved at Full Council in February 2024.

(4)      Agree that a further report on the IT Roadmap will be submitted to committee in September 2024.  This will provide an update on the implementation of the roadmap and details of funding actuals to date and forecast.

The Committee received a report providing details of the Epsom & Ewell Borough Council Information Technology Strategy for 2023 and beyond.  The IT Strategy defined the principles, governance, standards and methodology by which the council will source, procure, implement, maintain and deliver IT services both internally (to staff and partners) and externally (to residents). The report also detailed the IT Roadmap for 2023-2027.

The following matters were considered:

a)              Contribution to carbon reduction target. In response to a question from a councillor, the Head of IT informed the Committee that a number of metrics could be included in a procurement activity to gauge its contribution to the council’s carbon reduction target. This included the power usage effectiveness rating of cloud based services. Officers were considering which metrics would be appropriate to include and whether a weighting should be applied to them. The Committee noted that suppliers using green energy might have a higher cost as a result, and officers would need to consider how to equate this increased financial cost to the council’s carbon reduction target.

b)              Re-use and disposal of equipment. The Head of IT informed the Committee that he was happy to receive proposals from councillors for the reuse of redundant equipment.

c)              Training and support for officers. The Head of IT informed the Committeethat the Council had access to a training suite as a part of its Microsoft Enterprise agreement and that this would be used to support a learning plan for individual staff. There would also be a wider training programme for all staff to support the roll-out of SharePoint and Microsoft 365.

d)              Issues to be considered by channel shift. A member of the Committee expressed the view that footnote 2 on page 27 of the agenda should be expanded to consider a wider set of issues, such as matters addressed by the Equalities Act. It was noted that the Head of IT would take this forward.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)        Agree the IT Strategy, and the associated plan to invest in a programme of works as set out in the IT Roadmap.

(2)        Note that the works to include; a refresh of end user devices for officers, a programme of works to update infrastructure and move to a hosted data centre and transformational projects to improve and increase online services to residents.

(3)        Approve the indicative funding implications for delivering the defined IT Roadmap in 2023-2027, as set out in section 5 of the report, which will feed into the Medium-Term Financial Strategy to be approved at Full Council in February 2024.

(4)        Agree that a further report on the IT Roadmap will be submitted to committee in September 2024.  This will provide an update on the implementation of the roadmap and details of funding actuals to date and forecast.