Issue - meetings

Members were advised that a Topic Proposal Form had been received following publication of the agenda and would be considered alongside general updates on the Board’s Work Programme.

Officers explained that at the meeting of the Board in February 2015 Members were due to undertake budget scrutiny and would receive a briefing on the subject of the staff survey, it would also be pre-scrutinising the report concerning the Hanover Street and George House site.

Officers were proposing to present the Overview and Scrutiny Board Annual Report for the consideration of the Board in April rather than in June, due to the potential for a change in membership of the Board following the elections in May 2015.

Members were advised that Democratic Services were keen to prepare appropriate Overview and Scrutiny training for Members in the new municipal year as part of the induction process.  The Board agreed that as part of the planning process for this training it should have an opportunity to contribute towards this during the April 2015 meeting.

Topic Proposal – Introduction of Ipads to District Councillors      

Councillor R. J. Shannon presented a topic proposal form which detailed suggested terms of reference for a review of the introduction of Ipads for the use of district Councillors.  He explained that, following discussions with other Councillors and the debate at the Council meeting on 19th January, it appeared that the subject of Council Ipads might be suitable for further scrutiny.  A Short, Sharp Review of the subject could be completed prior to the elections and any findings could assist Officers in providing a high quality IT support service to new Members.

During consideration of this topic proposal form Members discussed the following points:

·         The available capacity of the Democratic Services team to facilitate a Short, Sharp Review of this subject.

·         The validity of the topic as a subject for scrutiny.

·         The need to limit the number of Members appointed to any scrutiny group at this stage in the municipal year to ensure that meetings could be arranged and the review completed prior to the elections.

·         The need for Members to be open minded about the potential outcomes of a review of this subject.

·         The mixed experiences of Members when using their Ipads.  A number of Members reported that they had experienced no problems.

·         The timing of the proposed review, in particular as to whether sufficient time had been provided for Members to realise the full capacity of the Ipads.

·         The functionality of the Ipads and the restrictions placed on access to various forms of email attachment.

·         The availability of IT support to assist Members experiencing problems with their Ipads and the need for Ipads to be transported to Redditch Town Hall in order for problems to be resolved.

·         The impact in terms of Officer time, in both the IT and Democratic Services teams, of resolving problems that had been reported with Ipads.

·         The complexity of the Council issued Ipads compared to similar equipment used in various  ...  view the full minutes text for item 110