Mr Chris Woodward, Head of ICT Shared Service, introduced the strategy as a shared partnership strategy that had been written taking into account the strong message that it needed to be as simple as possible and digestible.  The strategy had been broken down into six overarching themes to aid with this.

The success of the ICT shared service was shown by 75% of platforms being jointly procured with little or no impact on services.  In order to deliver the strategy consensus was required across the partnership and a joint timetable of work was set out in the document.

The Committee raised concerns about the website and beta testing, and requested whether members could be involved in that process.  Suggestions for improvements in areas such as planning, linking agendas to public access, were also made.  Mr Woodward agree to take these on board and recognised that, though the website fell outside of ICT, close working with partners was essential to deliver the strategy.

Concerns were also raised by the Committee regarding the impact of data loss and how this risk was managed and properly captured in the corporate risk register.  In response to questioning Mr Woodward outlined the range of back-ups and protections put in place in order to protect the Council’s network and data, and that Mid Kent ICT advanced compared to other authorities.  However, the Committee felt that the impact of the corporate risk relating to loss of systems and data needed to be adequately covered and presented in the corporate risk register.

In response to further questions Mr Woodward highlighted the issues with datasets in silos and the need for good information management and crossworking.  He also addressed concerns around Artificial Intelligence and protecting data, including meeting GDPR requirements.

The Committee noted that many of the proposed improvement activities, including automation, could free up staffing resource and were informed that would be a steady process with a view to looking at how that resource could best be redeployed, the aim was for automation and business intelligence to deliver better outcomes for the Council and residents.

Mr Woodward informed the Committee that the partnership had 297 Windows 2008 servers which were being upgraded and reviewed, but were serviceable until January 2020 and running on reliable hardware. The Committee were also informed that due to the fast paced nature of change in ICT that the strategy would be reviewed halfway through its life.

Mrs Broom, Chief Executive, highlighted that the action plan set out how the strategy would be delivered and was the element that provided flexibility and agility to the Council and the partnership, with the partnership element bringing advantages by providing a wider breadth of challenge to the strategy and approach. Mr Steve McGinnes, Director of Mid Kent Services added that Member updates and briefings would be provided as the Strategy, and action plan, progressed.

RESOLVED:  That the 2019-2024 ICT Strategy be approved.

Voting: Unanimous