To consider the report of the Head of Democratic Services.
Minutes:
(A) Provision of
Electronic Tablets
The
report of the Senior Manager, Democracy and Delivery and the Democratic
Services Manager was submitted updating Members on Information Technology
issues.
It
was noted that a pilot session had been organised for eight members on 26 June
2015 to improve their skills when using i-Pads. Dependent on the feedback from this session,
they would proceed to continue with other small groups.
(a) During
the ensuing discussion the following points were highlighted: by individual
Members:
(i)
The i-pad software (Apple) was not compatible
with the corporate computer system (Microsoft).
(ii)
That further training was a waste of time and
having more software on the tablets would be more useful
(iii)
It was disappointing that the training was in
Welsh only and some Members found it difficult to follow and every Member was
not so computer literate
(iv)
That too much use of the i-pad caused eye
problems
(v)
Difficulties to open some appendices
The
Senior Information Technology Manager responded to the above observations as
follows:
(a) That
many of the members were aware of the basic functions of i-pads but were eager
to be more confident in their use. It
was further noted that no decision had been made regarding additional software.
(b) That
the IT Unit could not support different types of software only the standard
i-pad software.
(c) That
the use of tablets was more for reading and responding to e-mails and if work
was required with spreadsheets, letters etc. then this should be undertaken on
a personal computer.
(ch)That training would be useful to justify screen
brightness, font size, checking unfortunate incidents when vocabulary was
changed.
(d) It
was suggested that any Member experiencing difficulties to open appendices
should forward this information to the IT Unit in order to further investigate
the problem.
Resolved: To
approve to proceed with the pilot training programme and report back with the
feedback to the next Committee meeting.
(B) Modern Gov
It
was reported for information, by the Senior Manager Democracy and Delivery,
regarding the above electronic committee management system that offered more
flexibility and was a way of publishing material on the Council’s new website. The system would enable:
·
more effective administration of committees
·
placing agendas more conveniently on members’
tablets
·
to merge with the Council’s web-casting system
·
a convenient way of collection of data on
attendance etc.
It
was trusted that the system would be installed in July, with training for
Members on 25 November 2015. Further
information would be shared in 'Rhaeadr' once the
system had been installed.
The
Senior IT Manager gave an undertaking to investigate further into the weakness
of the tablets to search the new website in accordance with a Member's request.
Resolved: To
accept and note the above information.
(C) Town
and Community Councils Websites
Members
were reminded of the grant provision of £500 made available in 2013/14 for Town
and Community Councils to establish a website and 48 councils in Gwynedd had
benefited from the grant. The IT Unit
invited expressions of interest from suitable companies to design and establish
a joint website for Town and Community Councils, however, unfortunately the
quotation received was not within £500.
It was noted that the grant had by now ended.
In
response to enquiries from individual Members, the Senior IT Manager noted as
follows:
(i)
He would investigate the grant guidance further
for Town / Community Councils that had not completed the work of establishing a
website by March 2015.
(ii)
In terms of the exact information to be provided
on the website, Unllais Cymru
should be asked for guidance
(iii)
It was not possible for the Council’s IT Unit to
create a website for Town / Community Councils due to the lack of resources,
however, information could be shared with them of the companies available on
the market.
Resolved: (a) To accept and note the above.
(b) To request that the Democratic Services Manager / Senior IT
Manager checks the grant guidance regarding declaring interests on the website
and forwards a guidance to Committee Members.
Supporting documents: