Decision details

To make an initial purchase of IT assets in 2020/21 of £355k as part of the Council’s response to enable the organisation to continue to provide essential services securely while working within restrictions resulting from Covid-19 followed by a further purchase in 2021/22 of £1.653m. The purchases will facilitate working from home, increase flexible/mobile working and increase productive virtual meetings and collaboration. This will reduce travel and parking expenses and help to streamline office buildings.

To fully approve capital amounting to £355k for 2020/21 funded from Covid-19 grant and £1.653m for 2021/22 funded by £600k Covid-19 Grant and £1.053m from the provisional capital programme item IT Asset Refresh.

There has been no legitimate alternative options for long-term remote working over recent months and into the future. Initially staff were using their own equipment or ageing IT loan equipment, which was limited and in both cases these were only fit for short term use or could they sustain the significant level of remote working or delivery of statutory and emergency duties. Expediated changes in how customers contact us due to the Covid pandemic such as the increased use of virtual communication methods and overall changes in service delivery and new ways of working have accelerated the need for consideration of the right technology for our staff to carry out their work effectively, securely and efficiently. This is therefore the first phases of a roll out new technology to support the organisation into the long term.