Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services, Councillor Tim Ball, introduced the report.

Panel members made the following points and asked the following questions:

Councillor Simon explained that he had asked for the report. He pointed to the suggestion in the report that we might disengage from Libraries West which he believes should be ruled out. He stated that this was an attempt to learn to run a multi authority procurement system for IT and this one has not worked. He stated that as a regular user, he has not noticed any improvements since the early days. Pages are still taking 20 seconds to load, there is not enough computer power. He thanked the Cabinet Member and officer for the information regarding correspondence with Axiell. He had hoped the Panel would have access to all KPIs and monitoring figures to see if the contract addressed all important issues. He stated that there are lessons to be learned regarding major IT procurement. The officer stated that he agreed. He explained that Somerset are leading on this and all are speaking from the same hymn sheet. He stated that Axiell had provided full 10% backdated. There will be a ‘lessons learned’ piece of work coming in the following months. It has been difficult. The Libraries West Board meets weekly, there is a lot to discuss.

Councillor Blackburn stated that this organization has been doing this for years so it will be interesting to see the ‘lessons learned’ information. He stated that 10% and no apology was shocking considering the poor performance. He stated that he hoped Somerset will do their job. The officer stated that it was challenging to work with multiple authorities.

Councillor Hounsell stated that there was no question of withdrawing from Libraries West and no criticism of support BANES officers have given – this is about a procurement contract.

Councillor Simon stated that when the ‘lessons learned’ review is done, this could be a future item for the Panel to consider, maybe in connection with other authorities. He asked the officer to pass on the flavour of the Panel discussion on to colleagues at Somerset.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member and officer.