Agenda item

Consider report by Director Strategic Commissioning and Partnerships.  (Copy attached.)

3.1       With reference to paragraph 2 of the Meeting held on 20 September 2022, there had been circulated copies of a report by Director Strategic Commissioning and Partnerships that presented key information with respect to the CGI contract for the first three quarters of 2022 and key updates on performance to date.  The report provided Elected Members with key information on the governance of the contract, updated information on the transformation programme delivered with CGI including the Social Work Pathfinder transformation programme, key performance information with respect to the service delivery of the contract and a note of key issues associated with contract management, which included change requests signed in the quarter and Impact Assessment status.  Powerpoint presentation slides which accompanied the report were circulated to members which provided further detailed information on each of the areas of the report.  The Director Strategic Commissioning and Partnerships introduced the report and highlighted key aspects.  With regards to key projects, there were a number of projects that were marked ‘red’ or ‘amber’.  This was explained as being due to a number of third party pressures which included work with an external provider on cabling and infrastructure on various projects.  There had also been problems with firewalls which prevented upgrades being undertaken.  There was one missed performance target regarding customer satisfaction and work was being implemented to address this. WiFi issues in Jedburgh High School were being addressed and cabling work was underway to remedy this.

3.2       Mr John Wordsworth-Goodram presented the slides which highlighted key information from the report.  It was confirmed that the issues experienced with Lync calls failing in the Galashiels office were resolved and that information was included within the report on action on recruitment in the Scottish Borders region.  A number of boards met to take forward the joint goal of the Scottish Borders to be the smartest rural region in the UK.  The meetings of those governance boards continued to meet and that minutes were taken of those meetings.  Mr Wordsworth-Goodram confirmed that partners continued to work as a team on imperatives related to the Transformation programme.

3.3       The Social Work Pathfinder Programme was confirmed as being in delivery having commenced on 5 October 2022.  The Pathfinder programme focused on Social Work with a view to:

·                provide mobile technology to enable front line staff to capture data to populate the system when they meet with clients which would remove the need for note taking, dictation, transcription and data entry to Mosaic;

·                revise business processes to capture accurate data to allow the service to improve efficiency and make more informed decisions on further improvements; and,

·                develop a performance dashboard to provide Directors with the information they need to manage their service.

3.4       Project teams were in place working across the project workstreams.  Mr Wordsworth-Goodram highlighted the timeline of the Pathfinder programme which was progressing as planned.  The Digital Customer Access project had concluded.  Internet Migration project was due to conclude by the end of November 2022.  Mr Wordsworth-Goodram advised on the progress of projects which were marked as ‘red’ and ‘amber’ and that work was being undertaken with Scottish Borders Council colleagues to speed up those projects.  Firewall issues had affected Macbook deployment and Lync 2010 Decommissioning however a new firewall was prepared and advice was expected from Scottish Borders Council to choose a time when the migration to the new firewall could take place.  Mr Wordsworth-Goodram paused to answer questions from Members.  It was advised that the Depot WiFi project progress was marked ‘red’ due to third-party related issues.  An alternative third-party contractor was being sought to complete the project.  The Managed Print project was also affected by the same third-party contractor.  The Director Strategic Commissioning and Partnerships advised that one supplier had been delivering several pieces of work and that officers were assessing alternative suppliers to undertake specific work.

3.5       Service successes and challenges were highlighted.  Inventor/Autodesk was packaged and rolled out to all high schools within a short duration to minimise the impact on pupils’ curriculum.  CGI experienced a number of challenges in education particularly with Network/WiFi issues reported at the Jedburgh Campus.  Network cabling was checked which showed the existence of errors which were being resolved by a third-party cabling company.  CGI had engaged with other schools to identify WiFi related issues which contributed to the development of a remediation plan.  Work had been undertaken to resolve firewall issues which affected resiliency capacity.  New firewalls were due to be installed on week commencing 14 November 2022.  In response to a question about tracking satisfaction levels in schools from the Chair, Mr Woodsworth-Graham advised that client satisfaction was a focus of work as part of addressing the failure of its relevant KPI.  Part of the work was to break down customer satisfaction by directorate so that satisfaction in education could be assessed.  A number of customer satisfaction user groups within directorates was to be created so that they could engage directly with CGI Service Desk.  There was a high level of availability across applications across Priority 1, 2 and 3 applications managed by CGI.  CGI engaged in a number of activities and sponsorship of community initiatives and Mr Wordsworth-Goodram advised that he would welcome suggestions for how CGI could support more groups in Scottish Borders communities.  With regards to STEM learning, CGI ran STEM activities with different age groups with age-appropriate activities which progressed through age groups.  CGI wished to work within school and to bring the wider community to CGI buildings to engage in STEM opportunities.  CGI were keen to expand opportunities for groups to receive support and that there was no limit to the amount of community organisations and sport clubs that CGI would sponsor and it was advised that teams and clubs looking for sponsorship should contact Mr Wordsworth-Goodram.  In respect to digital inclusion and supporting people not digitally connected and to learn skills to be digitally connected, Mr Wordsworth-Goodram advised that he would support a pilot to support older people in a community centre to do basic learning in digital skills.  Mr Wordsworth-Goodram advised that discussions were taking place for how CGI works with partners in the community and that he could advise on activities taking place.

3.6       With regards to recruitment, the Tweedbank CGI office building opened on 8 August with its official opening having took place on 4 November 2022.  Mr Wordsworth-Goodram advised that since the circulation of the report, there was a little over 67 CGI members employed that lived in the Borders and there were 112 members working on the Scottish Borders Council contract.  All roles in the UK that allowed home working were being promoted in the Borders.  There were 379 relevant vacancies across different skillsets that were being reviewed to be marketed in the Borders.  CGI were working with CodeClan and Skills Development Scotland to promote opportunities in the Borders.  CGI balanced recruitment of individuals with limited IT skills where their skillset would be developed as part of their employment, such as with graduate recruits and Modern Apprentices, and also ensured that appropriately skilled individuals were recruited to deliver the requirements of clients.  Visits had taken place at a number of careers fairs to target school children to consider STEM and IT/technology jobs with CGI.  The Chair suggested that the Tweedbank facility may be an opportunity to encourage people to consider careers in IT and with CGI by visiting the working environment.  After a question from the Chair on CGI members working in the Scottish Borders Council contract, it was confirmed it would be a safe assumption that the staffing number required to work on the SBC contract was approximately 150.

DECISION

NOTED:

(a)       the report and the associated slide deck; and,

(b)       the information provided within the report and the associated slide deck detailing the performance of the CGI over Quarter 1,2 and 3 and updates since Q4 noting Q4 has not concluded in 2022.