Agenda and minutes

Venue: Lancaster Buildings, - Lancaster Buildings. View directions

Contact: Jayne Briscoe 2250 

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES

Minutes:

There were no apologies

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest stated

3.

CONSIDERATION OF CALL IN OF THE CABINET DECISION - DIGITAL STRATEGY AND OUTLINE BUSINESS CASE

Minutes:

Councillor Kearon, as lead call in member explained that the key issue for the  call in was concerning digital exclusion, whilst the potential savings inherent in the digital strategy were appreciated it was considered to be imbalanced as an unequal number of households who received services did not have access to a computer.

 

Councillor Robinson as a signatory to the call in asked if the Council would be setting aside funding to protect against cyber-attacks.

 

Councillor Stubbs, as a signatory to the call in pointed out that the report did not include all the staffing costs, nor did it set out the timescales associated with the project and questioned whether members should be asked to agree the project prior to this information.

 

In response the Leader, explained that the proposals were the start of the digital journey.  The action plan, which was included in the outline business case, provided for services to be delivered in the traditional face to face way for those citizens who did not want to engage digitally.

 

Councillor Tagg confirmed that the Borough had business continuity arrangements in place, in the event of IT disruption.  

 

Councillor Tagg added that the decision to pursue a digital agenda began in 2017 and that, in relation to staff representation, the Director of HR was a member of the digital steering group.

 

 

Councillor Stubbs, in summing up, pointed out the one of the roles of a Scrutiny Committee was to advise and to add value to a Cabinet decision before it was taken (pre-decision scrutiny) however, in this example, the Cabinet decision had been made in advance of consideration by the Scrutiny Committee.

 

Councillor Holland directed members to scan the Forward Plan which gave advance notice of upcoming decisions.

 

Councillor Tagg acknowledged the need to ensure that the Digital Strategy was inclusive for all members of the Borough community.

 

Decision:      Members voted 6 to 5 to reject the call in and to note the original Cabinet decision made on 4 September 2019.