Agenda and minutes

Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act 1972 requires a record be kept of the Members present and that this record form part of the minutes of the meeting. Members who cannot attend a meeting should tender apologies to the Town Clerk.

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor D Scott.

i)     Under the Localism Act 2011 (sections 26-37 and Schedule 4) and in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, Members are required to declare any interests which are not currently entered in the Member’s Register of Interests or if he/she has not notified the Monitoring Officer of it.

(ii) Should any Member have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in an item on the agenda, the Member may not participate in consideration of that item unless a Dispensation has first been requested (in writing) and granted by the Council (see Dispensation Procedure).

No declarations were made and no dispensations were requested.

To receive questions and statements from members of the public in respect of any item of business included in the agenda, as provided for in Standing Order No.s 3(e)(f)(g) and 3(h).

There were no questions from members of the public.

The Committee may consider it appropriate to consider the following resolution should they consider that any discussion would be prejudicial to the public interests: that, under the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960, the public be excluded on the grounds of the confidential nature of the business about to be transacted which involves the likely disclosure of exempt information. The public and press to withdraw from the meeting during consideration of detailed discussion regarding:  

RESOLVED that, under the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960, the public be excluded on the grounds of the confidential nature of the business about to be transacted which involves the likely disclosure of exempt information.  The public and press to withdraw from the meeting during consideration of detailed discussion regarding:

The Committee received a presentation  and a report to consider future arrangements for I.T. helpdesk support and the potential transfer from an on-premise server to cloud-based data storage, due to the age of the current server. A number of considerations and options were provided and discussed.

RESOLVED to change provider for helpdesk support to provider A (Cloudy IT) in order to benefit from their wider offer to the local council sector and to migrate data storage from server to cloud during 2023 (costs to be met from the Future Projects allocation in the five year financial plan).

The Committee received a presentation and a report regarding a wide range of options for future officer, councillor and public access to formal meeting documents. The Committee was advised that the cost of the current software would almost double following the expiry of the current on-premise server and that hosting of this software in the Council’s cloud domain would not be supported. Three alternative software products were reviewed in detail, each offering some shared advantages/disadvantages as well as each offering some unique elements. In addition, other options for file sharing had been reviewed but it was noted that security of information was key, as well as ease of administration and ease of access by councillors to ensure they were able to prepare for debate during meetings.

RESOLVED to change provider for meeting documentation software to provider A (Decisions, through Cloudy IT) by May 2023.

The Committee received and considered a report on the potential provision of devices for councillors who wish or need them in order to undertake their role, from May 2023. It was noted that the currrent inconsistency in arrangements with councillors using a range of devices and platforms made it difficult to offer technical support or maintenance, as well as making provision of training difficult. The Committee was advised of data protection and Freedom of Information considerations and the need to ensure all future councillors would be able to easily access and use Microsoft O365 applications for council related work and communications. The cost of devices would be roughly equivalent to the cost of providing paper documents over a four year council term.

It was accepted that there were a range of personal views and preferences on this matter but that consideration should be given to the most effective and compliant solution for the Council as an organisation.

After discussion, it was agreed to revisit options at a future date and that more detailed technical information might be required to help address queries.

RESOLVED to defer a decision on  arrangements for the possible provision of councillor devices from May 2023 until a later date.

On behalf of the Committee, Cllr Jones requested that the Deputy Town Clerk be thanked and recognised for her hard work and commitment to this project.