Approved Minutes of Meeting
West Dunbartonshire Council · 5 February 2025
Back to Corporate Services Committee — 5 February 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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CORPORATE SERVICES COMMITTEE At a Hybrid Meeting of the Corporate Services Committee held in the Civic Space, 16 Church Street, Dumbarton on Wednesday, 5 February 2025 at 2.00 p.m. Present: Provost Karen Murray Conaghan and Councillors Fiona Hennebry, David McBride, Lawrence O’Neill, Lauren Oxley, Martin Rooney, William Rooney, Gordon Scanlan, Hazel Sorrell and Clare Steel. Attending: Peter Hessett, Chief Executive; Alan Douglas, Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration (Legal Officer); Amanda Graham, Chief Officer – Citizen, Culture and Facilities; Laurence Slavin, Chief Officer – Resources; Victoria Rogers, Chief Officer – People and Technology; Michelle Lynn, Assets Co-ordinator; James Gallacher, ICT Manager; Ryan Chalmers, Section Head – Resources; Arun Menon, Business Support Manager; Adrian Gray, Finance Business Partner – Resources; and Scott Kelly, Committee Officer. Apologies: Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Councillors Ian Dickson and James McElhill. . Councillor William Rooney in the Chair STATEMENT BY CHAIR – AUDIO STREAMING Councillor William Rooney, Chair, advised that the meeting was being audio streamed and broadcast live to the internet and would be available for playback. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST It was noted that there were no declarations of interest in any of the items of business on the agenda. RECORDING OF VOTES The Committee agreed that all votes taken during the meeting would be carried out by roll call vote to ensure an accurate record.
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MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The Minutes of Meeting of the Corporate Services Committee held on 6 November 2024 were submitted and approved as a correct record. OPEN FORUM The Committee noted that no open forum questions had been submitted by members of the public. VARIATION TO PAY PRESERVATION A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – People and Technology presenting options to reduce the pay preservation period and consequent associated costs for the Council. After discussion and having heard the Chief Officer – People and Technology in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, Councillor William Rooney moved:- That the Committee agrees to note the findings of the analysis and approves Option 2 to reduce the pay preservation period to 6 months. As an amendment, Councillor Scanlan moved:- That the Committee agrees to reject a further reduction to pay preservation timescales and instructs officers to seek the agreement of the trade unions before returning this matter to the Committee. Councillor O’Neill then seconded Councillor William Rooney’s motion and Provost Murray Conaghan seconded Councillor Scanlan’s amendment. On a roll call vote being taken 3 Members voted for the amendment, namely Provost Murray Conaghan and Councillors Oxley and Scanlan, and 7 Members voted for the motion, namely Councillors Hennebry, McBride, O’Neill, Martin Rooney, William Rooney, Sorrell and Steel. The motion was accordingly declared carried. PEOPLE AND TECHNOLOGY SPEND 2025-26 A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – People and Technology providing a detailed breakdown of the planned People and Technology spend for both capital and revenue, covering new and existing contracts valued above £10,000 and seeking approval to procure and contract for the requisite goods and services. The Committee agreed:- (1) to note the revenue and capital spend detail included in the report;
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(2) to note the projects to deliver this spend would be included in the 2025-26 People and Technology Delivery Plan currently in development and to be reported to a future meeting of the Committee; (3) to note, that where the contract award is less than £213,477 (VAT inclusive), authority is delegated to the Chief Officer – People and Technology in consultation with the Procurement Manager, to instruct the award of contracts for the planned revenue and capital spend detailed in the report to suppliers providing the most economically advantageous offer to the Council; (4) to approve the procurement of and award by the Chief Officer – People and Technology in consultation with the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration, of all contracts valued at £213,477 (VAT inclusive) and above, subject to the cost being within the approved budget and the tender being in line with normal tender parameters; (5) to approve the revenue spend included in the report, including approval to explore and secure multi-year contracts, contracts using framework agreements and/or contracts using dynamic purchasing systems beyond the term of approved budgets where efficiencies and savings can be achieved; and (6) to approve the projects specified in section 3 of the report (as shown in Appendix 1 to these Minutes). CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE PLAN (CIRP) A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – People and Technology seeking approval of the new Cyber Incident Response Plan (CIRP). After discussion and having heard the Chief Officer – People and Technology and the ICT Manager in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, the Committee agreed:- (1) to note that there had been several recent high profile cyber incidents, including the Scottish public sector; (2) to note that the CIRP will be the key document used by the Council to manage major Cyber Incidents, as recommended by the Scottish Government through its Public Sector Action Plan (PSAP) for Cyber Security; and (3) to approve the Council’s Cyber Incident Response Plan (CIRP), as appended to the report. CORPORATE DEBT POLICY A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Resources seeking approval of the revised Corporate Debt Policy.
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After discussion and having heard the Chief Officer – Resources and the Section Head – Resources in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, the Committee agreed to approve the revised Corporate Debt Policy which was attached as an appendix to the report. WRITE-OFF OF NATIONAL NON-DOMESTIC RATES 2024/2025 A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Resources seeking approval of the write-off of debts in respect of National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR), which have been deemed as irrecoverable during the financial year 2024/2025. After discussion and having heard the Chief Officer – Resources in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, the Committee agreed to approve the write-off of NNDR accounts totalling £637,211.56. CORPORATE SERVICES REVENUE BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT TO 31 OCTOBER 2024 (PERIOD 7) A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Resources advising on the performance of the Corporate Services revenue budget for the period to 31 October 2024. Having heard the Chief Officer – Resources and the Chief Officer – Citizen, Culture and Facilities in answer to Members’ questions, the Committee agreed to note that the revenue account currently shows a projected annual favourable variance of £0.199m (0.55% of the total budget). CORPORATE SERVICES CAPITAL BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT TO 31 OCTOBER 2024 (PERIOD 7) A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Resources providing an update on the Corporate Services capital programme to 31 October 2024. The Committee agreed:- (1) to note the current position of the 2024/25 capital budget for Corporate Services; (2) to note that the project life total was currently on track; and (3) to note that the £1.000m capital budget for a new financial ledger system and the associated £0.028m per annum revenue costs to cover the interest on the prudential borrowing over 20 years of the life of the asset had been approved by Council on December 2024
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REVIEW OF THE DUMBARTON COMMON GOOD FUND A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Resources providing the outcome of a review of the Dumbarton Common Good Fund (DCG) and seeking agreement of a future financial support fund for applicants. After discussion and having heard the Chief Officer – Resources in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, the Council agreed:- (1) to note the financial position in relation to the Dumbarton Common Good and the need to consider current funding awards to ensure it is sustainable in the longer term and provides scope to fund new and emerging applications; (2) to approve the allocation of a £10,000 per annum maintenance budget to ensure Dumbarton Common Good sites remain fit for purpose; (3) to approve a new two stage assessment process which will be accompanied by supporting guidance and a new application form; (4) to approve all current awards for 2025/26 on a single year basis; adjusting for those who have asked for a lower amount as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report; not adjusting for those who have applied for an increase as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report; and approving the two one-off applications detailed in paragraph 4.11 of the report; (5) to approve that all beneficiaries are contacted to advise them of the outcome of this review on their 2025/26 awards and advise they will be required to reapply to the Dumbarton Common Good for the financial year 2026/27 with those applications assessed against the revised assessment process; and (6) to approve that, from 2026/27 onwards, the Dumbarton Common Good Fund operates on a three-year cycle of funding. The meeting closed at 3.05 p.m.
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Appendix 1 Table 1 – Existing Agreed ICT 1-Year Capital Plan Capital allocation 2025/26 ICT Security & Resilience Inc. Education Software Licensing Refresh £792,000 ICT Modernisation £677,000 365 Implementation £240,000 Total £1,709,000 Table 2 – Proposed Projects ICT Capital Spend 2025-26 Description Capital (Est) ICT Security & DR, Resilience £792,000 1. SWAN 1.0 Contract exit cost. £50,000 2. SWAN 2.0 Implementation £250,000 3. Replace Ageing Infrastructure Hardware £100,000 4. Security Compliance remediation £90,000 5. Security Resourcing - multi-year consultancy services £30,000 6. Internal ICT resource recharges £84,000 7. Education software refresh £30,000 8. Wi-Fi Technology licensing £80,000 9. Telephony system replacement £60,000 10. Security Patching Improvements £18,000 ICT Modernisation £677,000 1. Device replacement: £554,000 a) corporate laptops £162,000 b) education laptops £167,000 c) education PC’s £225,000 2. Resources to Support a range of corporate projects. £123,000 365 Implementation £240,000 1. Resourcing £170,000 2. Securing and implementing SharePoint and One Drive £70,000 Total £1,709,000