To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors P.A. Andrews, M.E.Cooper, T.M. James, and R.I. Matthews.  Councillor PD Price (Cabinet Member ICT, Education and Achievement) also sent apologies.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2009.

RESOLVED:   That the Minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2009 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

There were no suggestions from Members of the Public

To consider a progress report on Cabinet’s response to the scrutiny review of Information, Communication and Technology Services.

The Committee considered a progress report on Cabinet’s response to the scrutiny review of Information, Communication and Technology Services.

The Head of Service - ICT Services presented the report.  Because a number of actions arising from the scrutiny review had been completed and a number of others, because of their nature, would be ongoing he proposed that any further progress report should focus on a number of specific recommendations as set out in the covering report. 

It was also proposed that reporting on the development of technical and governance links between health and social care should be incorporated into the proposed progress report.

In discussion the following principal points were made:

·                Progress on refurbishing the data centre at the Thorn Offices was discussed.The Joint Director of ICT confirmed that the Centre would be of the requisite quality with a 5- 7 year lifespan which was appropriate in the context of the future service delivery model of IT.  He agreed to provide details on the final cost of the refurbishment to Members.  The Director of Resources confirmed that negotiations to extend the existing lease of the Thorn Offices would be concluded to ensure security of tenure.

The Joint Director of ICT added that consideration would need to be given by the Council to its data storage policy recognising that storage of data incurred a cost.

It was noted that the Primary Care Trust was now sharing the Council’s data Centres which were of a higher standard than its own data centre.

·                Members emphasised the importance of extending Broadband provision in the County.  It was noted that it had been decided that the use of the Community Network’s cabling or ducting to improve the broadband service for all businesses on the estate would have involved the Council in unacceptable additional responsibilities for support and policing the use of the network, with the Council in effect becoming an ICT service provider.  A tender had therefore been issued requiring a minimum broadband service of 2 mbs to be provided at Rotherwas. A decision on awarding the contract was due to be made by the end of September.  A meeting with BT had been arranged by the Economic Regeneration Service in October to explore wider provision of networks across the County.  Members requested that they be informed of the outcome of these discussions

·                A question was asked about progress in relation to recommendation (d) of the review relating to rolling out information security accreditation across the Council.  The report stated that there was a lack of resource available in the central team to carry out and sustain the required levels of training and awareness.  The Joint Director of ICT said that he considered the level of central resource was reasonable. He noted that technology was rarely the cause of a breach of security.  It was more commonly due to human error.  Education and awareness training were therefore key and a training programme was in place and being offered to directorates.

·                The implementation of arrangements  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.