Issue - meetings

Report of the Assistant Director of ICT

Report of the Assistant Director of ICT

Before Committee heard the report, they received a verbal update, from the Director of Finance and Resources – NEDDC, on the topic of AI. Members heard that a multi-stage plan was in place at North East Derbyshire District Council (NEDDC) to explore how the Council could utilise AI to increase efficiency. Step 1 was identified as increasing staff comfort around using AI tools, step 2 would be a data cleansing exercise and step 3 would be a major systems review. Members heard that a project team had been put in place and it was suggested that a detailed roadmap to the project be brought to a future meeting.

Some Members had questions over the scope of a grant that had previously been used to explore how AI could improve the efficiency of the planning process. It was clarified that the current approach was to look at how AI could improve services across the Council. Some Members suggested that outside experts would be needed to ensure the project was handled effectively.

Committee also discussed the cyber training that was set to take place at NEDDC offices, before hearing the report.

The Committee received a quarterly service update report that highlighted quarter 3 of the 2024/25 financial year. This included statistics on calls received and responded to by the Joint ICT Service, as well as details surrounding the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs); incidents resolved within target time, incidents resolved on first contact and the level of resource utilisation across the Joint ICT service. Committee also received a detailed breakdown of the statistics surrounding outstanding calls. Members heard that the total number of outstanding calls was reducing and a review into older outstanding calls was in progress. Overall, the report highlighted that the Joint ICT service was performing well, as KPI’s remained stable.

Committee welcomed the report. Some Members had questions surrounding the length of time calls had been outstanding and how they were categorised. The way calls are categorised were clarified and Members heard that the majority of calls were resolved within a year. It was revealed that service requests took longer to resolve than incidents and there had been very few complaints in regard to outstanding call time. In this context, some Members suggested that separate graphs could be used to show outstanding calls by category. It was also suggested that a statistic on the number of outstanding calls left be included in the report for the next meeting, but the difficulties in obtaining this figure were acknowledged.

Some Members requested further statistics on the number of calls resolved on first contact by category. It was revealed that these figures were difficult to obtain but a new service desk tool for reporting incidents was set to be brought in which should make it easier.

RESOLVED –

1.            That Committee noted the report. 

2.            That a roadmap of the AI development project be brought to a future meeting.