Issue - meetings

Stuart Whitfield (Digital Programme Manager) to present the report.

1.     That the Board approve the Business Justification Case for the LPWAN project and authorise the Portfolio Director, in consultation with the Chair, Vice-Chair, Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer to procure and establish the required frameworks for the delivery of the project, subject to the Portfolio Management Office addressing the outstanding issues set out in section 7.1 of the report.

2.     That the Board note the process for accessing funding through the frameworks will involve the submission of a delivery plan for each local authority area and delegate authority to the Portfolio Director in consultation with the Lead Member for the Digital Programme and the Digital Programme Board to approve the delivery plans and delegate solely to the Portfolio Director the subsequent allocation of funding through the frameworks.

3.     That the Board note that the LPWAN Business Justification Case is a sub-set of the larger Connected Campus project from which funding will be allocated and agree to the principle that any underspend within the LPWAN project budget is ringfenced to the Connected Campus project in the first instance.

The report was presented by the Digital Programme Manager.

DECISION

1.      To approve a Business Justification Case for the LPWAN project and authorise the Portfolio Director, in consultation with the Chair, the Vice Chair, the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer, to procure and establish the required frameworks to carry out the project, subject to the Portfolio Management Office dealing with the ongoing issues as set out in Section 7.1 of the report.

2.      That the Board note the process for accessing funding through the frameworks will involve the submission of a delivery plan for each local authority area and delegate authority to the Portfolio Director in consultation with the Lead Member for the Digital Programme and the Digital Programme Board to approve the delivery plans and delegate solely to the Portfolio Director the subsequent allocation of funding through the frameworks.

3.      Noting that the LPWAN Business Justification Case is a sub-series of the larger Connected Campuses project from which the funding will be allocated and agrees to the principle that any underspend in the LPWAN project budget is earmarked to the Connected Campuses project in the first instance.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

To seek the Board's approval of the Business Justification Case for the LPWAN Project.

As a project delivered by Ambition North Wales, approval was required by the Board to establish the frameworks that will deliver the project. Due to the nature and value of the project, in line with the Better Business Case guidance, a Business Justification Case is presented that requires only a single approval from the Board. ⁠

DISCUSSION

It was explained that the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) - a network of devices and sensors that can collect and share data with people or other devices, and operate in accordance with the information - had grown rapidly in use and diversity since 1999. It was confirmed that there were around 950 gateways to the Internet of Things over Britain. It was elaborated that these advances in high-quality data collection allow users to make informed decisions. Details were given that this was possible as users received detailed information about an asset at different scales, distances and frequencies, through a medium that disposes of the overall challenges of data collection. It was explained that a number of private Internet of Things Networks already exist in Britain such as smart meters and environmental monitoring systems. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

It was noted that the Internet of Things were used in Britain and globally to deliver economic benefits across the public and private sectors. It was confirmed that the aim of this project was to expand the use of the Internet of Things, which had wide applications in the region, using the public sector as an anchor user to support wider accessibility to the private sector. ⁠

It was reported that the LPWAN project had four main expenditure objectives, namely:

1.     Delivering affordable and easy-to-use, LPWAN connectivity to priority locations in the region's counties by 2027 (enabling efficiency across public services  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8