Issue - meetings

Matter for Decision

Cambridge City Council (CCC), Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) and South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) had agreed to work in partnership to deliver shared services and had agreed general principles to underpin the approach.   

The report provided the business case to establish an ICT Shared Service (ICTSS) between the Councils and details the activity to create the ICTSS

Decision of the Leader

Approved the Business Case and delegated authority to the Director of Business Transformation to make decisions and to take steps which are necessary, conducive or incidental to the establishment of ICTSS in accordance with the business case.

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Director of Business Transformation regarding the Shared ICT Service.

The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:

     i.        Suggested that further explanations of costs were needed.

    ii.        Questioned the compatibility of the systems currently used by the different authorities.

   iii.        Questioned how the three authorities, with different functions, could be brought together. For example, only two had housing services.

In response to Members’ questions the Director of Business Transformation said the following:

     i.        Northgate held a fixed term contract which would run until 2018, and this had been factored into the proposals. The contract would not be terminated as no breach of contract had occurred.

    ii.        Some applications would be service specific but it was expected that the majority of systems would be compatible.

   iii.        Future provision would offer better value for money.

Councillor Herbert stated that this service was important and this was an opportunity to achieve both better value for money and an improved service.

The Committee resolved by unanimously to endorse the recommendation.

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendation.