Agenda item

1.            Ms Spore introduced the report and emphasised the importance of the strategy in shaping the County Council’s response the covid-19 pandemic, accelerating the work plan and establishing a firm basis for future growth. The committee was being asked to agree to adopt the strategy as a working draft.  

2.            Mr Cole presented a series of slides (included in the agenda pack) which set out key trends covered in the strategy, a summary of progress and an activity plan for 2020 – 2023.  He emphasised the robustness of the Council’s technology strategy, both before and after the pandemic.

3.            Mr Cole and Ms Beer responded to comments and questions from the committee including the following:-

a)    the strength of the Council’s technology strategy was emphasised and welcomed, both in terms of coping with the demands of the pandemic and supporting staff to work from home, and in delivering services to Kent residents;

b)    asked if there was sufficient connectivity to continue to deliver the strategy and if weaknesses in coverage could be a limiting factor in its delivery, Mr Cole advised that the Council’s broadband width across the county was generally sufficient.  However, some staff working at home were in areas with less robust local networks.  The BDUK team was working hard to address slow spots to mitigate this; 

c)    concern was expressed that some online meetings included domestic background noise, which could be disruptive and create an unprofessional impression. Mr Cole advised that rules about the behaviour of participants in online meetings could be set out at the beginning of the meeting.  Ms Beer added that staff values and behaviour could be set out in organisational development plans so all staff were clear of expectations.  The Corporate Management Team could address any training needs;  

d)    asked how the County Council worked with its district partners to optimise connectivity, Mr Cole advised that all local councils were partners in the Kent Public Sector Network (KPSN).  This network was stable and resilient.  There were opportunities to rationalise software and the Council needed to be able to link to other organisations who used other networks for meetings, for example, Zoom;

e)    concern was expressed that the KPSN could not help local network weaknesses which affected staff working at home, for example, in remote rural areas. More information was requested in future reports about progress on addressing this, and information on consolidation of the Council’s and other organisations’ networks;

f)     concern was expressed about sectors of the public who did not have a suitable device to allow them to access online networks, or struggled to use them effectively.  The Council should seek to ensure that everyone could access the Council’s services they needed when considering service delivery models;

g)    concern was expressed that officers working and taking part in meetings at home would need support and perhaps training with aspects other than meeting etiquette, for example, the importance of taking regular breaks away from the screen and taking exercise outside, to guard their physical and mental wellbeing.  Ms Beer advised that staff were known to be less likely to take breaks at home than they were in the office;

h)    asked about the robustness of the County Council’s IT security, Mr Cole advised that a layered approach included new features to counter malware and back up solutions; ; 

i)     asked how well the Council connected to its partners, for example, the NHS and Public Health England, Mr Cole advised that these, the police and other partners were all linked by the KPSN and were able to collaborate effectively on IT issues; and

j)     asked about the inclusion of the County Council’s commercial companies in the IT strategy, Mr Cole advised that Local Authority Trading Companies (LATCOs) were segregating themselves from the County Council network and establishing their own technology strategies, where these were not in place. The Council had a robust security environment in place to protect its systems. Commercial Services operated on a separate network to the Council, and the latter took the appropriate steps to protect its infrastructure following the cyber security issues experienced by Commercial Services earlier in the year. The Council work closely with all the LATCOs to ensure that any learning was shared, and appropriate actions were considered, as appropriate.   Mr Watts added that the committee was due to receive a report at its January meeting regarding the LATCOs, which would update the committee further as to the their activity.    

4.           It was RESOLVED that, taking account of the points raised above, the draft Technology Strategy 2020-2023 be endorsed.