Agenda item

To consider progress against the Transformation and Communications Corporate Priorities.

Members considered the Progress of Corporate Priority – Transformation and Communications, welcoming Councillors Boden and Tierney together with Anna Goodall, Stephen Beacher and David Wright to the meeting.

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Roy stated that he would like to understand the real time cost savings regarding the digital switch over to the Council and has there been any significant impact on staffing levels? Councillor Tierney responded this has been a smooth transition with no costs or savings and no significant changes to staffing levels.

·         Councillor Mrs Davis asked since the move over to the Cloud infrastructure and the Team technology, what is the contingency plans for data loss, cyber-attacks and service interruptions? Councillor Tierney stated that there is sufficient cover for data loss, with Cloud backup in place with on and off-site backup and this system is regularly tested. Stephen Beacher confirmed that there is regular patching, fire walls and network segmentation in place to protect from any cyber-attack.

·         Councillor Mrs Davis asked how can the service-level improvements be quantified resulting from the £214k in cashable savings and 7,000 officer hours saved and specifically how have these gains transferred into better outcomes for residents and what governance or audit mechanism are in place to independently validate self-reported achievements and figures? Councillor Tierney stated that this is quantified through the Council’s procedures, data and analysis are measured, tested and recorded, once the figures have been checked through the various departments the results are reported back to the committees, who can then question individual things if they feel there has been a mistake.

·         Councillor Mrs Davis asked how the Council is ensuring that consultations are reaching underrepresented or digitally excluded groups in Fenland and how is it ensured that the automation of services does not negatively impact those with complex needs or low digital literacy? Councillor Tierney stated that lots of people are ready to go digital and the more that can be encouraged the better it is because that frees up resources for those who cannot be supported. He continued with underrepresented people they are approached in lots of ways such as the Golden Age Fairs, press releases and the website alongside a variety of other actions within each community and in regard to others who are not digitally represented there are other methods like phone calls and the library. Councillor Mrs Davis asked if there are any information leaflets that can be shared at local coffee morning and events that councillors attend to spread the word? Councillor Tierney responded there was not but there is a hard copy of the information available which councillors could take with them with all the information inside.

·         Councillor Mrs Davis referred to the Transformation Agenda (TA2) and asked how are the objectives aligned with the Council’s long-term strategic goals especially in light of the LGR and Fenland Inspire Programme? Councillor Boden responded that it has changed, TA2 considerably especially around how FDC performs its services without harming the services which are provided, this has provided an opportunity to look at all the services provided to see how each service can be made more efficient and more effective, all of this demands an upfront cost in terms of the time it takes for officers to examine the system and put forward the changes, and the way transformation works is that the savings made following that initial cost outweighs that initial cost, and that is the justification for the transformation. He stated that the problem with LGR is that in many cases if looking at services provided by FDC, there will not be that trail of savings to be made because once LGR takes place, the overwhelming majority of the services provided will be provided in different ways and in ways at the moment that cannot be anticipated so to some extent TA2 has been truncated and the opportunity for FDC to make even more savings than FDC otherwise would have done.

Members noted the information reported.