Agenda item

This report provides an update on the performance of the Shared ICT Service.

Fabio Negro (Managing Director Shared Technology Services) introduced the report to the Joint Committee providing an update on key performance areas in relation to the Shared Technology Service (STS).  Fabio Negro welcomed Mobeen Zafar, Head of Operations STS who member were advised had replaced Kevin Ginn following his retirement.

Members noted the summary of key performance management indicators for the service across all three Council’s, which had been included within the report and in terms of detailed service performance, the Joint Committee was advised of the following:

·            In this reporting period (March 2025 to May 2025), SLA performance for priority 3 (P3) operational incident issues had improved by around 5% with priority 4 (P4) operational request calls SLA having largely been maintained within the Service Level Agreement (SLAs).  Although, not covered in the reporting period covered within the update members were advised about the occurrence of recent priority 1 (P1) incidents in June 2025, on which further detail would be provided at the next meeting.

·            STS had achieved the second lowest number of open issues and requests for staff since its inception, despite having the largest user base on record.

·            The introduction of a new Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) survey to replace the previous Net Promotor Score (NPS) based system. Positive feedback had been received in regard to sharing good communications and improving how P1 indents were handled, however the team were not receiving enough responses and were encouraging more responses in order to gain a more accurate picture.

·            The team had reprocured the Telephony Service Desk with tighter service levels.  The new contract had commenced on the 1^st of April 2025 on which performance would be subject to ongoing and assessment.

·            In this reporting period (March to May 2025), SLA performance for P3 operational incident issues had remained the same and P4 operational request calls SLA had been maintained at the same level compared with the previous reporting period.  This had come with a reduction in open calls and these together showed good progress in overall operational performance.

·            The work undertaken with the onsite teams in each Council to improve the customer experience and response times.

·            Development work had been completed for Hornbill with a free text box added for better user experience.

·            The progress in relation to audit delivery with the final report now issued on the Southwark Financial Reporting Review and a rating of “Moderate” for Design Opinion and “Moderate” for Design Effectiveness. This included one recommendation relating to STS to provide minutes and actions from monthly review meetings. In addition, the final report from the Brent IT Project Management Review had also been issued with a rating of “Moderate Assurance”.

·            Microsoft was due to end support for Windows 10 in October 2025 with the associated project part of the STS transition strategy to ensure all systems and operations continued without interruptions or security risks linked to unsupported software and hardware.  For Brent, deployment of new Windows 11 laptops was underway, and STS had so far completed delivery of over 1300 new laptops to staff.  For Lewisham, the business case was signed off, and procurement was underway and for Southwark, procurement was completed and ready to be rolled out.

The Chair thanked Fabio Negro for the service performance update provided and asked for an elaboration on savings, procurement and costs and how this would impact on the next financial year.  Fabio Negro replied that there had been two sets of savings for this year; £824k across all 3 Councils and another amount as a leadership role was reduced in the team.  In addition, efficiencies were also being sought in the procurement and commissioning undertaken through STS with final options and proposals subject to review by the Joint Management Board.

The Chair then invited comments from Members with the following issue(s) raised:

·            In regard to paragraph 4.3 in the report, regarding the volume of open calls within the STS operational queues over the past year, details were sought as to whether this reflected any seasonal trend.  Mobeen Zafar, Head of Operations explained that the details provided related to work undertaken to address outstanding tickets dating back from 2023, which had been reduced now leaving only 25 tickets outstanding.  The current focus was to clear tickets outstanding from 2024.  In November 2024, there had been a high turnover of staff and ongoing projects causing tickets to rise to over 2200.  However, two weeks ago the Service saw the lowest number of tickets on record.  It could be seasonal at times like receiving less calls in the winter, however performance was not seasonal and based on SLAs.  As a further update reference was made to the graph in section 4.5 of the report, which identified current performance levels and trends in relation to open tickets.

·            Further clarification was sought on the issues with the Council Tax system in two of the three member boroughs, which Fabio Negro advised had related to a Priority 1 incident affecting the two boroughs with the concerns highlighted in relation to the communication process in addressing the incident noted.

·            Concerns were highlighted in relation to connectivity issues being experienced by members and staff in Lewisham with the need to progress roll out of updated laptops highlighted as a priority.  In response, Fabio Negro advised that the business case for the laptop refresh at Lewisham had been signed off and procurement was underway, however there was a need to clarify Lewisham’s asset management.  In response to a further query, it was clarified that the Kiosk Project was not one being led by STS with members advising that they would welcome a full list of projects currently being delivered by STS.

·            Further clarification was sought on whether the Microsoft Licences for Lewisham had been gained.  Fabio Negro confirmed that the licences had been gained.

·            Further details were sought on the progress with the social value work ongoing with the Good Things Foundation and LOTI on benchmarking the IT service costs against other London Boroughs to ensure that the shared service provides value for money compared to the traditional model of an in-house IT team.  In response, Fabio Negro advised that data was still in the process of being sought (including licence costs) which may result in an alternative route needing to be pursued.  At this stage, however, work was, ongoing to gain indicative pricing costs.

As no further issues were raised, the Joint Committee completed their consideration of the update report.  The Chair thanked Fabio Negro for the updates provided and it was RESOLVED to note the progress being made across the various areas in the detail of the report including the Digital updates from each borough and proposed revisions to the Inter-Authority Agreement, as outlined in the report.