Agenda item

To consider the draft Digital Strategy ahead of Cabinet on 3 July 2017.

On 6 June 2017 the Management Committee established the Digital Strategy and Implementation Task Group (formerly the My Wiltshire System Task Group) and asked it to consider the draft Strategy, bringing comments back to the Management Committee at this meeting. A report presenting these from its meeting on 13 June 2017 will follow.

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee received a presentation in January 2016 on the development of the MyWiltshire system, a system to enable the public and officers to remotely report a range of issues to be resolved. Following this, the Committee established the MyWiltshire System Task Group with terms of reference to consider and contribute to the development of the system, focusing on customer experience; system scope; development and resourcing; and councillor interface. On 6 June 2017 Management Committee re-established the MyWiltshire System Task Group as the Digital Strategy and Implementation Task Group with amended terms of reference to focus on the wider issue of the council’s Digital Strategy.

Councillor Howard Greenman, a member of the Task Group, presented its report following an initial meeting to consider the draft Digital Strategy. The Task Group was recommending a number of points be considered by the relevant Cabinet Member for the draft, and that the Task Group continue its work to monitor implementation of the Strategy.

The Cabinet Member with responsibility for IT, Councillor Philip Whitehead, was in attendance with the Portfolio Holder for IT, Councillor Ashley O’Neill, and responded to the report of the Task Group, welcoming its recommendations. He noted that the Digital Strategy was about transforming the way the council performed many of its functions to better meet customer needs, giving an example of 75% of those who had renewed their Green Waste bin online, did so after 7pm, when under historic methods could not have occurred. He emphasised that those unable or unwilling to use digital methods or new technology would still be able to contact the council in the same ways as presently, but that the more work that could be undertaken digitally would free up resources to help those people, as well as making significant financial savings.

The Committee discussed the report, with reassurance sought that the digital infrastructure, data definitions and IT system foundations of the council were sufficient to cope with any planned expansion of public facing systems. Questions were also raised on commercialisation, and it was stated some local authorities carried ads on their websites, although such a step would need to be considered very carefully. It was also stated through partnership working, for example with Wiltshire Police, partner organisations could be charged for utilising Wiltshire Council systems, and there may be more opportunities, within reason.

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

Resolved:

To continue the work of the Digital Strategy and Implementation Task Group as a standing task group and for it to receive the draft tender document and regular updates on the progress of the Digital Strategy and its implementation.

And to endorse the recommendations of the Task Group as follows:

1)    To ensure that feedback from users is collected and reflected in the development of the new system to ensure that the system is designed to be accessible to all customers.

2)    To amend the governance structure diagram to demonstrate where users are engaged and where user feedback is considered and applied.

3)    To include, if endorsed, the Digital Strategy and Implementation Task Group in the governance structure.

4)    To ensure that the Digital Strategy project clearly outlines the key project milestones and their anticipated timescale.

5)    To make clear in the Digital Strategy that the digital assessments process will be performed with support from the project team, and to encourage a proactive approach which works with service leaders to implement the Digital Strategy.