That:

a)    The revised scope for the Technology Enabled Communities (TEC) programme be approved, including Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) funding to deliver the identified projects as set out in paragraph 10 of this report;

b)    The funding allocation of £2.692m to deliver the TEC programme is authorised, reflecting the revised scope and excluding the LoRaWAN (Long range wide area network) project and that the remaining £1.462m capital element for the programme is reverted back to revenue funding;

c)      Authority is delegated to the Corporate Director Community Wellbeing to take all operational and budgetary decisions to implement the TEC programme, utilising the approved TEC programme budget. 

1.         Do nothing – this is not recommended because the Technology Enabled Communities programme supports the council’s county plan ambition to strengthen communities to ensure everyone lives well and safely together, by protecting and improving the lives of vulnerable people and using technology to support home care and extend independent living. 

2.         Continue with the original scope and within the original budget – this is not recommended because technology has moved on considerably since the original business case was developed and within a very fast moving environment.  More information is also now available on elements of the programme and their costs, including advances in projects of a similar nature that have succeeded without the necessity of infrastructure such as LoRaWAN.  Also, the dependency on the upgrade of the existing Telecare infrastructure from analogue to digital is critical as well as being an essential pre-requisite for launching the predict and prevent model.