Issue - meetings

[Report of  the Interim Director for  Customers, Transformation and Resources. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Insourcing]

The report  will  be seeking authority to complete refresh of the Council’s laptop and desktop estate.

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Insourcing introduced the report which sought Cabinet approval to the allocation of funding of up to £4.1m to enable the delivery of phase 2 of the Council’s Laptop and Desktop Refresh Project (part of the End User Compute Programme) by Shared Digital Service.

The Cabinet Member went on to state that this project was about capital investment to ensure that staff of Haringey Council could continue to work effectively. Currently, the Council was still using Windows 7 which would soon become obsolete and cease to be supported by Microsoft. Furthermore, the project would allow the Council to utilise Office 365 to its fullest extent.

The Cabinet Member emphasised that the project was required to ensure that the necessary equipment is supplied to staff and that it would be funded by Capital Funding and not revenue allocation.

In response to a question, it was noted that an Equalities Impact Assessment screening tool had been carried out and that the utmost attention has been given to access issues and ensuring that all disabled members of staff have full access to the equipment. Furthermore, it was noted that, due to the rollout of newer and better systems across the Council, it was anticipated that efficiency savings would be released as a result.

RESOLVED

To approve the allocation of funding up to £4.1m to enable the delivery of phase 2 of the Council’s Laptop and Desktop Refresh Project (part of the End User Compute Programme) by Shared Digital Service.

Reasons for decision

The Council has an ageing estate of laptops, desktops and monitors which were last refreshed in 2012/2013. The hardware is now failing at an increasing rate and the general level of dis-satisfaction and frustration with the existing estate from the user community is very high. The estate is also not suitable for running the latest software applications and is inadequate in supporting users with smart / mobile working. The ability to procure new or refurbished Windows 7 devices (the operating system currently installed on Council computers) is now proving almost impossible.

In addition to the critical usability issues, Windows 7 will no longer be supported by Microsoft from January 2020. No further security fixes will be released by Microsoft from that date. It is therefore critical that the Council move to the new Shared Digital recommended platform of Windows 10 before January 2020. Failure to do so may compromise the Council’s security and potentially expose the Council to exploitation of known hacking attacks. The Council’s access to Public Services Network (PSN) based systems e.g. NHS, may also be affected, as access to PSN is predicated upon the Council demonstrating that it is only running supportable and patchable hardware and software.

The move to Windows 10 is aligned to the Council’s software strategy (office tools, server and end user device operating systems) and the Council is currently renewing its Microsoft Enterprise Subscription Licensing Agreement and have recently migrated to Office 365. This will allow the Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34