West Midlands Regional Telematics Group

West Midlands Regional Telematics Group

Actions Arising from Meeting held on 5^th October, 2000

At The Exchange, Aston Science Park, Birmingham

Present : Graham Beaumont – Director (Chair)

Peter Thompson – Wolverhampton MBC

Andy Nicholls – Sandwell MBC

Mark Wheatley - Sandwell MBC

Don Herbert - Coventry CC

Andy Mabbett - Birmingham CC

Geoff Henderson - RG Consulting

Apologies

Nigel Summers - Sandwell MBC

Ian Everall – Walsall MBC

Richard Honeysett – Solihull MBC

Minutes of Meeting held on 12^th July, 2000

Geoff Henderson, Don Herbert and Andy Nicholls should be added to the list of those present at the meeting.

Matters Arising

It was agreed that it would be beneficial for a schedule of meetings for the next 12 months to be formulated.

GB to action

It was also agreed to add Angus Doulton to the circulation list for all Group reports, etc. It was further agreed that Angus be invited to the next meeting to report on EIP activity.

GB to action

Regional Telematics Co-Ordinator Work Programme

The Group spent some time discussing the items on the Work Programme that had been circulated in advance of the meeting. The following is a summary of the main points and actions arising :

GB to add item on ‘Newsletter Page’ relating to recent Libraries projects and initiatives (GB to action);

Geoff Morgan has been taken on by the regional broadband consortium;

GB had been talking to Andy Hvass re: the LA Multinet project and it was agreed to invite Andy to a future meeting of the Group to get his view on how the region could capitalise on changes in the telecommunications market (GB to action);

The PEELS project in Walsall is forcing a ‘borough-wide’ strategy and they are currently looking for external advice;

There was a discussion relating to various approaches made to Local Authorities to supply information for local portals developed by commercial organisations. It was agreed that any Group members who had information on this should post it on the Web Site (ALL to action);

In addition to the point above, it was recognised by the Group that LAs probably don’t fully understand the value of their information as an asset and also their identity as a ‘brand’ to ‘sell’ other public services. The question was raised as to whether it be worthwhile trying to identify some resource to progress this on behalf of the Group;

GB agreed to add a section on ‘Online Democracy’ to the Web Site discussion forums (GB to action);

Steering Group Membership

GB reiterated that the most important issue from his point of view is where he makes the links within each Local Authority and not necessarily who sits around the table at each Group meeting.

An example of this is Solihull’s e-government group, on which GB now sits. His role is provide advice and information and also to provide a ‘challenge element’.

GB reported that demands on his time are growing rapidly and the Group would need to look at how this demand could be resourced.

Feedback on ICT Strategic Framework with AWM

GB reported that it had now been decided to produce a very short strategy for WM and then to derive continuous strategy development from this using the tag line "Connecting People to Opportunities". Initially, this would consist of a 1 year strategy to enable access to broadband services throughout the region – including an action plan.

This will be used to vet SRB, ERDF and ESF bids in the next round (GB will be on the vetting committee).

GB agreed to circulate strategy documents as they are agreed.

GB to action

Local Internet Futures Project

GB gave some background to this and reported on the regional LIF project being co-ordinated by the WM LGA. This will look at regional e-governance issues and will focus on 10 of the 38 WM authorities :

Birmingham
Wolverhampton
Solihull
Walsall
Herefordshire
Warwick DC
Shropshire
Shrewsbury
Malvern Hills
East Staffs DC

***** Graham – could you please check this list ******

Sandwell were not included in this list as they are undertaking their own LIF project. AN updated the Group on this – the Case Study in Sandwell is due to take place in Jan/Feb 2001.

Mapping of Initiatives

The Group recognised that there were many projects and initiatives currently underway throughout the region and that there is a need to properly ‘map’ these. GB reported that he had attended a meeting with AWM to look to establish a ‘knowledge exchange’. It was agreed that anyone with ideas on how such mapping could take place should contact GB.

ALL to action

Rover Taskforce

GB reported that he was helping to put together 2 proposals for the Rover Taskforce – these would be used to fund Project Development Officer.

Output report for WM Chief Execs

At the last meeting of WM Chief Execs, GB had been asked to produce an ‘outputs reports’, stating what he and the Group would be looking to achieve over by the end of 2001 and 2002.

It was agreed that all Group members would look at GB’s report and would get ideas / comments back to him within the next 5 days.

ALL to action

It was further agreed that as the notes of the meeting would not be produced in this timescale, GB would e-mail all Group members immediately after the meeting to inform them of the action above.

GB to action

Any Other Business

GH updated the Group on the ‘Connecting to Opportunities’ work and reported that he was currently pulling together information for circulation soon.

MW reported on current activities within SOCITM which are of interest to the Group. He encouraged GB to make links with the Information Age Group (SIAG) which had sub-groups to mirror the national ‘champions’ groups. The Group agreed that there would be great value in adding a WM perspective as there was a feeling that the region was not currently well represented in national forums.

AM used a Bonfire Safety leaflet to highlight the potential for sharing cross-authority issues on Web Sites. It was agreed that this should be an issue for WEMPIG to discuss.

PT to action

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held from 3.00pm – 5.00pm on November 21^st in the Chief Executives Conference Room at Sandwell Council House.

It was agreed that an agenda item for this meeting will be the identification of other initiatives currently being sponsored by the regional Chief Execs.