MEMORANDUM Date: June 2006 ______
To: Members of the Panel, From: County Secretary’s Department Caroline Tapster, Andrew Robertson, Ask for: David Roberts Gary Newton, Stuart Campbell, Ext: 25562 Malcolm Purvis, Sarah Vize My ref: Executive Member: Robert Gordon Your ref:
EFFICIENCIES AND I.T. PANEL 15 JUNE 2006
M I N U T E S
ATTENDANCE MEMBERS OF THE PANEL
D E Billing, P T J Channell, S M Holmes, T J Price (substitute for D J Hewitt), A Oaten, A M R Searing (Chairman)
Upon consideration of the agenda for the Panel meeting on 15 June 2006 as circulated, copy annexed, conclusions were reached and are recorded below:
Note: No conflicts of interest were declared by any member of the Panel in relation to the matters on which conclusions were reached at this meeting.
PART 1
ACTION 1. MINUTES
The minutes of the Panel held on 24 March 2006 were confirmed as a correct record.
2. ONLINE SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
[Officer Contact: Sarah Vize (Tel: 01992 555933)
The Panel received a presentation from Sarah Vize, Senior Manager Admissions and Transport, on progress with online school admissions, highlighting the continuing growth in use of the system by parents and the online services provided to parents.
It was noted that the Council had been granted £150k of Government funding (to be added to £120k of County Council funds) for the development of back-office systems to support online admissions. A contract had been let for this work and it was due to be operational in April 2007.
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ACTION
Areas for future development were: to review the number of admissions booklets produced due to the excellent take-up of online applications; and to encourage online use in areas of relative deprivation.
Arising from Members’ questions it was suggested to officers that: Local Members are informed of the level of take-up of online admissions in their divisions. Improvements should be sought in the level of take-up amongst hard to reach groups e.g. the primary sector. Sarah A higher target should be set for the percentage of all Vize applications made online. 80% was suggested. (Current usage was 58% with a target of 60%)
3. IRIS IN CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES
[Officer Contact: Malcolm Purvis (Tel: 01992 555901)
The Panel received a presentation from Malcolm Purvis, Head of ICT (CSF) on progress with the implementation of the IRIS system within Children, Schools and Families.
It was noted that social care and education modules that were in place and in use. Projects were underway to implement: Foster Parent Payments; Purchase Order; Electronic Social Care Record; Central Placement Team modules; and Security & Access Changes.
The Panel noted that the difficulty of use issues that were being raised by front line staff would be addressed through the development of the new Integrated Children’s System (ICS) which was to be introduced to meet the national requirements for handling case information for working with children in need. Once ICS was in place IRIS would function as the core client database, recording of initial referrals, and education modules.
Members discussed the implementation of digital pen usage within CSF. The Panel urged the Director of Children, Schools and Families to take advantage of the efficiencies that had already been shown to be possible through the pilot Malcolm project in ACS. Purvis
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4. ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT RECORD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
[Officer Contact: Stuart Campbell (Tel: 01992 588301)
The Panel noted a presentation from Stuart Campbell, Corporate Information Systems Manager on the development of EDRMS and proposed implementation across the Council.
The Panel noted the savings in storage space and improvements to workflow processes that had been achieved in the move to Apsley 1.
Principles already established were that the Council will use a single corporate system (Hyperwave) which is already licensed and is records management society accredited. All new systems acquisitions should state use of Hyperwave as obligatory – e.g. Hermis replacement.
All departments would establish implementation teams to engage with corporate team. The target was to achieve complete adoption across the Council (stand alone documents and systems) by end of the financial year 2007/8.
5. PROCUREMENT - update [Officer Contact: Ros Aird (Tel: 01707 292700)
Ros Aird, Head of Hertfordshire Business Services, provided an oral update on the national procurement project. It was noted that a programme for the project was due to be Ros Aird produced in the next three months which be shared with Members when available.
6. HERMIS – update [Officer Contact: Andrew Robertson (Tel: 01992 555609)
The Panel noted that the project to replace the Hermis system was at the outline specification stage. The procurement process would take some time and Members Andrew would receive regular progress reports. Robertson
7. E-DEMOCRACY
[Officer Contact: Bob Breakey (Tel: 01992 555603)
The Panel noted a briefing note on the e-democracy project to involve citizens more in council decision-making and democratic processes. The aim is to invite people through
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enhanced consultation activities to have more of a say in decisions that affect their lives. Technology presents new opportunities to do this.
John Sellgren, Director of Corporate Communications, will act as lead officer and over the coming months will gather together other key players and identify and prioritise a programme of potential e-democracy projects.
Note: Following a review of Cabinet Panels the remit of this Panel has been incorporated within the remit of a new Resources Panel.
Andrew Laycock County Secretary
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