Issue - meetings

Strata Business Plan 2020/21 and beyond

Meeting: 25/01/2021 - Strata - Joint Executive Committee (Item 6)

Strata Business Plan 2020/21 and beyond

Minutes:

The Strata IT Director presented the Strata Business Plan for 2020/21 and beyond. Members discussed the recommendations and the comments of the Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee.

 

Members also raised the issue of members IT and supported the review of their requirements given the changing digital environment.

 

Members agreed to delay the new Board Structure and the new proposed purposes of the Joint Executive Committee and Joint Scrutiny Committee until a more details review had been undertaken. The procuring of the PowerBI Premium would be deferred to a future meeting of this committee.

 

RECOMMENDED that East Devon District Council, Exeter City Council and Teignbridge District Council approve the Strata Business Plan 2020/21 and beyond including:

 

(1)           The 21/22 Proposed Savings;

 

(2)           Hardware budgets being returned to East Devon District Council and Teignbridge District Council;

 

(3)           Appointment of a Data Analyst post;

 

(4)           Benchmarking to be undertaken by SOCITM; and

 

(5)           The mechanism for work prioritisation.

 


Meeting: 11/01/2021 - Strata - Joint Scrutiny Committee (Item 8)

Strata Business Plan 2020/21 and beyond

Minutes:

The IT Director referred to the draft Business Plan as circulated with the agenda, and the Committee considered the recommendations at page 3 of the Plan.

 

The draft Plan recognised the challenging time since Covid, both for Strata and the three authorities in adapting to the change. The authorities needed Strata to support them in an ‘agile’ way, the community needed to be able to access council services on line, businesses unable to operate needed access to funds, democracy needed to be carried out in a virtual world and managers needed to ensure that authority services could continue to operate using widely dispersed resources.

 

Strata reacted confidently to the challenge proving that it could react and deal successfully to change, and has fared better than a large number of private and public organisations. Strata had and was continuing to prove the service was stronger, more adaptable, and more flexible. Along with this the resulting realisation that the authorities were probably more dependent on IT and the value it brings than previously.

 

The draft Plan set out the ‘vision and plan’ for the next 12 months, from 1 April 2021, in order to better support the needs of the three authorities. It was developed to deliver a more ‘customer focussed’ approach to Strata’s work, yet still delivering against the original objectives of reduced risk, reduced cost and the creation of an environment to support change.

 

RECOMMENDED

 

The recommendations set out at page 3 of the Strata Business Plan 2020/21 and Beyond be referred to Joint Strata Executive for approval, with the exception of the two recommendations relating to governance structure. It is recommended that these need further debate by the Joint Strata Executive and the Joint Scrutiny Committee and any changes should be delayed until a more detailed review is undertaken.