Agenda and minutes

It was reported that Councillor Don Stockton had replaced Councillor Peter Groves on the Committee.

Apologies were received from Councillors D Armstrong and D Stockton.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

No declarations of interest were made.

No members of the public were present.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2017

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2017 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive an update on the Archives Project

The Committee considered a report which provided an update on the Archives Project.

The call in of the Cheshire West and Chester Cabinet decision in relation to the site of the history centre at the former Enterprise Centre in Hoole had been considered by the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 9 October 2017.  The Committee had resolved that the Cabinet’s decision proceed.

Work was currently being commissioned to support the funding bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.  The recruitment of the design team was underway, with the process taking longer owing to the larger value of the commission.  It was anticipated that the commission would begin in January.

It was proposed that a workshop be held in January 2018 to provide an update on progress and consultants’ work to date.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

To receive a report which provides an overview of the outcome of the independent review of ICT and the agreed next steps

The Committee considered a report on the outcome of the independent review of ICT and the agreed next steps.

The Joint Independent Review had been concluded on 6 November.  The main areas identified were the need for strengthening of commissioning; financial transparency; enhanced and simplified governance, and the modernisation of the IT Shared Service. An outline business case had been formed to understand the costs and benefits of a new operating model.  A draft transition plan was appended to the Report. 

RESOLVED: That

1        the Review’s recommendations are taken forward to mobilisation stage, namely: 

                           I.          Strengthen client arrangements and medium term strategic planning;

                         II.          Confirm and enhance the ICT Shared Service’s key role in supporting common applications and providing commodity ICT while also ensuring full engagement with both clients on projects relating to line of business systems and digital programmes;

                       III.          Ensure that both Councils fully engage across with the Infrastructure Investment Programme to enable the delivery of key business requirements, to develop the financial case and to maintain momentum;

                      IV.          Improve and streamline governance at officer level to enable joint working and shared decision making;

                        V.          Draft a shared service agreement and proportionate performance management framework supported by a range of intelligent KPIs;

                      VI.          Deliver a comprehensive training programme to support further staff development involved in ICT across the two Councils and the shared service;

                    VII.          Develop a new organisational structure for ICT alongside clear roles and responsibilities;

                  VIII.          Building on the outline business case, further develop the financial implications relating to a new operating model including clarity on investment and financial/non-financial benefits and new funding arrangements

2        resources to enable the above are defined as a matter of urgency;

3        the Committee endorse the shared services agreement dated 1 April 2016 continue to govern existing service provision until the revised agreements, including agreed service catalogue, specifications, performance management and revised payment arrangements, are in place; and

4        the Committee agree the Transactional Service Agreement will now move forward and reflect the changes in the ICT delivery model and the requirements of the Best4Business programme.

To receive an update on the progress being made in procuring and implementing a replacement HR and Finance system for the Councils and their partners

The Committee considered a report which provided an update on the progress being made in procuring and implementing a replacement HR and Finance system for the Council’s and their partners.

The contract had been signed between each Council and Agilisys and an Inter Authority Agreement had been signed between the two Councils, setting out the working arrangements in relation to the HR & Finance System contract.

The contact with Agilisys included a schedule of milestone payments upon delivery of a number of outcomes during the life of the programme.  Three milestones had been signed off by the Best4Business Programme Board, as listed in Appendix A to the report.  It was expected that the Solution Design Document would be signed off by 30 November. 

The Joint Scrutiny Working Group continued to provide scrutiny of the implementation programme and had meet for the second time on 9 October.  The Working Group emphasised the importance of receiving positive confirmation from the officers representing the Programme Team that the solution design being signed off would meet the needs of the Councils and their partners.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee:

1        note and endorse the work of the  Finance & HR System Replacement Programme (Best4Business) in finalising the Council’s contracts with Agilisys and in mobilising the joint implementation team with Agilisys since the previous report to the Committee in September 2017;

2        note that three contractual milestones have been signed off and the Solution Design milestone will be signed off shortly;

3        note the approach being taken with regard to assessing the change impact on both Councils and partners resulting from the implementation of the new system;

4        note the approach being taken with regard to ensuring the delivery of business process savings as set out in the business case approved in July 2017;

5        note the scope and agreed terms of reference for the Joint Scrutiny Working Group and agree to support the work of the Group by receiving support and contributions from the meetings of the Group which will continue between now and the programme completion; and

6        note the next steps in the programme timeline, reflecting on the challenging nature of the target implementation date the Councils and Agilisys are working towards.