Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting - Virtual Meeting. View directions

Media

Items
No. Item

23.

Apologies

Minutes:

Nonereceived.

 

24.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 100 KB

To sign the minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2020.

 

Minutes:

The minutesofthemeetingheld on16 June 2020 wereapprovedasa correct record andsignedbytheChairman.

 

25.

Questions from the Public

A period of up to 15 minutes will be set aside to deal with questions to the

Committee from members of the public.

 

Each individual will be restricted to speaking for a total of 3 minutes.

 

Where a question does not relate to an agenda item details of questions should

be notified to the Proper Officer of the Relevant Council at least two working days

prior to the meeting.

26.

Question from Members of the Councils

To receive questions from Members of the Councils.

 

Where a question does not relate to an agenda item details of questions should be notified to the Proper Officer of the Relevant Council at least two working days prior to the meeting.

 

Minutes:

In response to supplementary questions from Cllr Clarence (Teignbridge District Council) in respect of the maintenance and support of personal IT equipment and the availability of access to councillor emails and calendars on personal devices, the Strata IT Director advised that Teignbridge District Council (TDC) had not currently taken up the option of the enhanced service, whereas East Devon District Council had. The enhanced service was a chargeable option, and this had previously been presented to the TDC Overview and Scrutiny Committee, but funding was not approved.

 

In respect of the maintenance, Cllr Dewhirst stated that there were no plans for Strata to maintain personal equipment, as the authority had provided an iPad for councillor use.

 

27.

Strata IT Director & Manager's Report pdf icon PDF 3 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

TheStrataITDirectorpresentedthereportonactivityfrom1 Mayto 31July 2020,identifyingkey activities,successesandareas forimprovement(presentation attachedtominutes).

 

Hebroughtmembers attention to the ‘Value for Money’ question which he advised had required Strata to look at what they do now compared to the starting point in 2014, and to also look at associated costs now compared to 2014 costs + RPI. The outcome of this exercise would be circulated to councillors.

 

During discussion,membersraisedquestionsregarding the use of the software application Microsoft Teams. Strata were currently working with the three authorities and a series of workshops had been setup to explore how the authorities may benefit from MS Teams and this would then enable a set of clear requirements to be defined, and a business case potentially drawn up. It was emphasized that any early phase deployment of MS Teams would not replace the Skype for Business telephony platform or the Zoom conferencing platform.

 

RESOLVEDthatthereportbenoted.

 

 

28.

Strata Finance Report pdf icon PDF 39 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

TheStrataFinance Director presentedthereportadvisingon the financial position of Strata at the end of quarter 1 of the financial year 2020/2021, including both revenue and capital spend. He advised that the Company had been given a total of £6.60 million to run the IT Services in 2020/21 along with funding for various capital projects.

 

RESOLVEDthatthereportbenoted.

 

29.

Strata ICT Report - Devon Audit Partnership Annual Audit Report pdf icon PDF 149 KB

Minutes:

The Strata ITDirector stated previous reports had highlighted the strengths of both the Strata’s strategic concept and direction and, in the day to day delivery of the full range of IT services to the Partners. Work undertaken this year further confirmed that the direction of travel remained upwards and that the appetite to continually improve remained as strong as ever.

 

Devon Audit Partnership (DAP) considered the Business Plan to be of a high standard and this, along with the high standard operational reporting and metrics, provided the measures from which continual service improvement can be delivered. Strata continued to perform strongly during 2019/20 and again exceeded the financial benefit targets set by the Partners.DAP advised that the authorities had Substantial Assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the internal control framework in Strata Service Solutions Ltd.

 

RESOLVEDthatthereportbenoted.

 

30.

Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 - Exclusion of Press and Public

To pass the following resolution:-

 

RESOLVED that, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part I, Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVEDthatunderSection100A(4)oftheLocalGovernmentAct 1972,the press andpublic be excludedfromthemeetingfor thefollowingitemsonthegrounds thatthey involvethelikely disclosureofexemptinformationas definedinparagraph3 of Part1 ofSchedule12AoftheAct.

 

31.

Business Case for the New Finance System

Minutes:

The Head of Business Systems, Strata presented the report which was undertaken into the case for a new finance system.

 

RESOLVEDthat the following be approved:-

 

(1)             the Strata Business Case for the Financial Management       Convergence Project, on the basis that the tender documents would be structured to allow the procurement of a Financial Management System for one, two or three authorities. Teignbridge District Council would be the first authority to implement the system. East Devon District and Exeter City Council’s retain the option of adopting the same system at a later date; and

 

(2)             to proceed with a formal Tender exercise for a common Financial Management System for all three authorities.