Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

This report sets out the context and background for the Future Shape of the Council Programme, its priority areas of work and benefits to the Council and its residents.  The digital agenda forms a major workstream within the Future Shape programme and ICT support will be integral to its successful delivery. This paper sets out this work.

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which set out the context and background for the Future Shape of the Council Programme, its priority areas of work and benefits to the Council and its residents and how the digital agenda formed a major workstream within the Future Shape programme and how ICT support would be integral to its successful delivery.

Key points and themes of the report included:-

·                The Future Council programme objectives and overview of workstreams;

·                A detailed introduction to the scope of the digitally integrated council workstream; and

·                The role of ICT in the successful delivery of the programme

Some of the key points raised during the Committee’s discussions were:-

·                An understanding of how the figure of the number of residents who were digitally excluded was arrived at and how was this defined;

·                Any digital service needed to be tested from the end user perspective to ensure it was fit for purpose prior to launching;

·                The need to prioritise the most deprived wards in the city, noting the experience of residents during Covid;

·                The need to work with large national providers to ensure residents were able to access data, noting the positive examples in response to barriers experienced by residents during the pandemic;

·                An update was sought on the integration of both health systems and those used by Northwards;

·                The CRM system needed to be reviewed to ensure residents could report issues, including the ability up upload photographs and consideration needed to be given to the automatic replies to ensure they were appropriate;

·                Premises Licenses were previously available to view online, however they were no longer accessible and was there a reason for this; and

·                An update on the timeline and budgets for the delivery of the replacement CRM and SAP systems was requested.

The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer explained that the report represented a significant programme of change to be delivered in a very challenging financial position. The Deputy Leader (Finance) commented that the report described the ambitions to deliver, noting that there were a number of workstreams to drive this ambition. She stated that this work was not a passive response to continued budget cuts but rather a proactive approach to drive improvements and efficiencies that met the needs of residents.

The Director of Customer Services and Transactions stated that the Digital Agenda was predicated on the needs of residents and improving their access and experience. She described that a Digital Index was being created that collated data from a range of sources that could then be provided at a ward level. She stated that the development of the Digital Index would then assist with the meaningful measurement of progress against an agreed set of criteria. She stated this work was being progress by the Director of Inclusive Economy and the Manchester Digital Strategy would be reported to the Economy Scrutiny Committee.

The Director of Customer Services and Transactions acknowledged the comment raised by the Member regarding the need to adequately test systems from a user perspective, adding that a number of lessons had been learnt during the pandemic. She stated that it was recognised that systems needed to be appropriate and relevant to the service user and systems should be designed and purchased from the end user perspective. She advised that there was also the requirement to ensure that systems complied with all equalities duties to ensure they were full accessible.

In response to the specific question relating to premises licenses being available to view online, the Director of Customer Services and Transactions stated that she would investigate this issue following the meeting.

The Deputy Leader (Finance) stated that the Manchester Digital Strategy would include consideration of digital inclusion and she advised that all Members would be consulted and specific ward issues and experiences, such as those raised during the discussion would be captured as part of that process.

The Director of ICT informed the Committee that a significant amount of work and testing was underway to ensure the safe integration of both Health systems and Northwards systems. Regarding the specific question relating to the timeline and budgets for the delivery of the replacement CRM and SAP systems he advised that this would be circulated to all Members of the Committee following the meeting.

The Director of ICT informed the Committee said that work continued to integrate systems across the Council, and IT analysts were working closely with Service Heads to review all systems with the aim of delivering a single view platform that would be device neutral. He advised that the IT department continued to work closely with the estates team, including libraries to ensure the technology and IT facilities were planned and appropriate.

Decision

The Committee note the report and the changes that will be required over the next few years to deliver this important agenda.