Agenda and draft minutes

To approve the minutes of the last meeitng.

It was proposed by Councillor Clarance and seconded by Councillor Levine that the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

A vote was taken.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Councillors are reminded of the need to declare any disclosable pecuniary

interests that relate to business on the agenda.

None.

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.

None.

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.

None.

The Strata Director introduced the item to the committee.

The Committee discussed the use of chat bots for Council websites, licensing costs, and third party costs. It was noted that strata includes non IT costs such as postage and printing.

It was proposed by Councillor Clarance and seconded by Councillor Knott that the decisions made by the Joint Executive Committee are agreed by the Joint Scrutiny Committee.

A vote was taken.

RESOLVED

That the decisions made by the Joint Executive Committee are agreed by the Joint Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee also reviewed the finances of Strata. This included benchmarking costs against other councils and the national average. Finances mentioned included considerable third party costs, moving to the cloud, postage and printing, business transformation, and staffing which included some non-IT staff. Peers from outside councils had been interested in Stratas costs and services. Strata had achieved several millions in savings this year.

In response to a question, it was clarified how much is spent on Microsoft software.

Democratic Services introduced the item to the Committee.

It was noted by members of the Committee that 24 hours would be the most appropriate deadline for appointment of a representative with the Chairs’ agreement.

It was agreed that members of the Committee should be aware of the virtues of their role and of attending meetings, and that recruitment process of members onto the Committee should be considered in the future.

RESOLVED

That as per the existing Terms of Reference, Committee Members’ are able to nominate representatives up to 24 hours before a meeting in their absence.