Contact: Jos Creese [email protected] , ext 8 200 7436

1. Introduction/Summary

1.1. The last regular report from the Head of IT to Policy and Resources Select Committee was on the 25 January 2008, closing off the scrutiny of IT.

1.2. This report provides an IT update on issues discussed at that meeting and also the draft Annual IT Performance Report.

2. Recommendations:

a. It is recommended that P&R Select Committee note this report.

3. External Funding

3.1 At the last meeting, the Committee asked about the contribution from IT to the External Funding Database. IT Services currently secures nearly 7% of turnover (£2.193m) per annum through external funding. Such funding is largely on a trading basis, external grants and (for example) European Union funding for IT projects has largely disappeared except for specialist areas (eg. Education and research). It is important that funding received by departments indirectly requiring investment in IT is identified.

4. Integration of IT Teams

4.1 It has been reported that there is a need to strengthen the cohesion between local and central IT groups. The Head of IT has advocated the need for a local IT presence, integrated into service teams, but also that IT needs to operate as a cohesive group. Over the last six months, a number of activities have demonstrated good progress in achieving that balance:

· Integrated Help Desks now exist for Education IT (EdICT) and central IT;

· Joint Business Relationship Managers between central IT and departmental IT exist in some areas. In the Environment Department (for example) a single IT manager has a dual reporting line to both IT Services and the Environment Department, saving a senior management post in IT;

· Integrated IT teams are beginning to operate under single management arrangements, for example between Children's Services, Adult Services and IT Services;

· All IT groups have been reviewed, new terms of reference put in place with performance indicators, forward plans and purpose, with the IT Development Group with representation from all departments forming the single client management of IT across the Council (see Appendix A).

4.2 Further opportunities will be considered as part of the Corporate Services Review.

5. Partnership Working

5.1 At the last meeting the Committee asked about the extent to which IT is developing shared services, especially in the area of Social Care and Health. Specific examples and developments over the last six months include:

· Shared service arrangements with the New Forest District Council have been put in place;

· Discussions are under way with a number of local authorities to consider hosted applications;

· An overarching partnership `Memorandum of Understanding' has been drafted and is expected to be endorsed by all local authorities and the Isle of Wight Council for joint IT working;

· The Hampshire Public Services Network has been re-tendered on a partnership basis with appropriate governance put in place to reflect this;

· Discussions are also underway with a number of public service organisations in Hampshire in trying to develop partnership business continuity arrangements - for example, sharing IT disaster recovery facilities.

5.2 Integrated Children's Services and the links between Social Care and Health continue to be pursued but this is dependent on a lead from a specific service area and other organisations - IT can only be an enabler in this respect.

6. Information Assurance and Security

6.1 At the last meeting the Committee commented on the importance of information security, following a number of recent and high profile public sector data losses.

6.2 Over the last six months the Security Managers Group working with IT Services have reviewed risks and data handling practices, culminating in IT Services achieving the international accreditation for security management, ISO270001. This accreditation demonstrates strong auditable management practices and the Security Managers Group have now been asked to consider ways of generalising this accreditation across the whole of the County Council's activities.

7. IT Service Management

7.1 Since the last report, IT Services has also achieved international standard accreditation for IT service management - ISO20000. This was an 18 month programme reviewing over 200 procedural areas within IT Services from business service management through to all aspects of technical and performance management. The County Council is believed to be the first public service organisation to achieve both levels of accreditation, according to the British Standards Institute.

8. Contribution to Efficiency

8.1 As detailed in the draft Annual Report of the Head of IT, IT Services delivered over £900k in new efficiency savings during the previous year which has enabled the continued funding of major corporate programmes and IT infrastructure agreed by Members, with no new funding needing to be sought. Examples include the upgrade of the telephone system, support for the Ashburton Court programme and the development of a corporate Electronic Document and Records Management system.

9. `Transforming Through Technology' Strategy

9.1 This strategy is now in place, and since the last meeting detailed action plans have been developed and agreed by the Business Improvement and IT Steering Group. Key corporate programmes enabled by this strategy include:

· Hantsdirect exploitation and development;

· Mobile and flexible working, especially to support the Ashburton Court refurbishment;

· Electronic Document Records Management;

· Priorities to increase usability of systems and internal use, especially in developing self-service;

· A programme to develop skills and capability for exploitation in support of corporate business transformation.

10. IT Performance Reporting

10.1 Over the last six months, four detailed IT monthly performance reports have been launched:

· Service Level Report - identifying detailed performance against all service levels agreed with departments;

· Performance Report for projects and consultancy delivered by the Business Solution Section of IT Services (this was something the Committee had previously considered);

· Customer Satisfaction Report - reviewing the extent to which frontline staff feel empowered by technology;

· Hantsdirect Performance Report based on technology and services to support the Contact Centre.

All of these reports are available to Committee Members on request.

10.2 The Annual IT Performance Report of the Head of IT is now in draft, and will identify in detail operational and project performance.

Appendix A