Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Forde House, Brunel Road, Newton Abbot, TQ12 4XX. View directions

Items
No. Item

7.

Apologises

To receive apologises for absence.

 

Minutes:

Apologises were received from Councillor Ingham and Mark Williams – East Devon District Council Chief Executive.

 

8.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 52 KB

To approve the minutes of the last meeting.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2019 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

9.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None.

 

10.

IT Directors Report- Strata Performance Report covering period May to end July 2019 pdf icon PDF 4 MB

Minutes:

The Strata IT Director presented the report on the last five months of activity, the aim being to provide background to the core areas of specialisation within Strata and identifying key activities, successes and areas for improvement.

2019 was proving to be a very productive and successful time for Strata.

 

The presentation is attached to the minutes.

 

The Head of Security & Compliance advised Members on the health checks that Strata regularly undertake to ensure that the systems were secure.

 

Members welcomed the appointment of a Climate Change Champion, work on low carbon services including the use of the Ecosiasearch engine (https://www.ecosia.org/) and the positive feedback from the IT Health checks.

 

Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee had considered the report at its meeting on 4 September 2019.

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

 

11.

Finance Report pdf icon PDF 38 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Strata Director (Finance) advised on the financial position of Strata at the end of the first quarter of 2019/20. Strata had a budget of £6.531 million in 2019/20 along with funding for various capital projects.

 

Strata was projected to deliver £812,900 of revenue savings in 2019/20, whilst this is below the target, the expectation was for the Company to deliver the additional savings by the end of the financial year.

 

Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee had considered the report at its meeting on 4 September 2019.

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

 

12.

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

It is considered that the Committee would be likely to exclude the press and public during the consideration of items 9 – 13 on this agenda and then the following resolution should be passed: -

 

That, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for items 9-13 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED that under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

13.

Commercialisation

How best to develop the Strata business outside of the three partner authorities

Minutes:

The IT Director presented the report to outline the commercial opportunity for Strata Services Solutions Ltd in relation to selling both products and services to organisations outside of the partner authorities.

 

Members discussed the use of applications and the benefits that the roll out of these were having on the customer experience.

 

In response to questions, the IT Director clarified that the development of commercialisation would take a phased approach.

 

Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee had considered the report at its meeting on 4 September 2019.

 

RESOLVED that the recommendation as detailed in the report regarding funding for the initial discovery phase of Strata’s commercialisation work be approved.

 

14.

Project Management Framework

The adoption of the Strata Project Management Process.

Minutes:

The IT Director presented the report which detailed a framework to deliver successful Strata projects. Not all aspects of the framework would be applicable to all projects, and the level of governance would also vary between projects.

 

The Head of Business Systems & Business Intelligence clarified that there would be the flexibility within the framework to allow for shorter development cycles and the framework would be reviewed regularly to ensure that the framework enable projects to be developed in a timely manner.

 

Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee had considered the report at its meeting on 4 September 2019.

 

RESOLVED that the three authorities adopt the Strata Project Management framework as set out in the report, and that this framework was followed by the authorities and Strata for all future ICT projects.

 

15.

Project Management Office

Creating a PMO function to support and enhance Strata’s delivery capability.  

Minutes:

The IT Director referred to the report regarding the creation of a single Strata Project Management Office (PMO) to manage all projects. This would be created re-using existing resources and would maintain standards for projects within the organisation.

 

Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee had considered the report at its meeting on 4 September 2019.

 

RESOLVED that the Project Management Office (PMO) be supported.

 

16.

Ongoing Development of Strata Firmstep Resource to Support the Needs of the Three Authorities

Minutes:

The Chairman advised that this report had been withdrawn

 

RESOLVED that the report be withdrawn.

 

17.

Governance

Review of the proposed changes to the Strata governance structure (IT Director to report)

Minutes:

The IT Director reported on proposals to streamline the Strata governance process, with the formation of an IT Steering Board, whilst maintaining the Executive and Scrutiny democratic process.

 

Members discussed the proposals and there were some concerns were raised regarding how the proposed Scrutiny function would operate going forward.

 

Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee had considered the report at its meeting on 4 September 2019 and had supported the proposals in the report.

 

RESOLVED that the Strata Joint Executive Committee Members and the relevant Portfolio Holders from the three Council’s meet to discuss the proposals and agree a consensus for a way forward. A report would then be brought forward with a recommendation to all three Councils in due course.