Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Valerie Anslow and Ian Jelley.

It was noted that Councillor John Mcghee was present as a substitute for Councillor Valerie Anslow.

RESOLVED that:-

The minutes of the meeting held on 10^th May 2023 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The meeting received a presentation from Guy Holloway, Assistant Chief Executive in regard to emerging technologies and the use of artificial intelligence.

Members heard that technological advances within the service industry over the last decade had led to a number of simplified processes such as payment processing, customer service interaction and customer self-service. It was also heard that through the advancement of technology negative impacts had also taken place such as cyber-crime, cyber bullying, and copyright infringement.

Advancement in battery technology had greatly improved the development of electric vehicles. Various local authorities across the UK had invested in the use electric vehicles for their respective fleets which has also had a positive impact on the authority’s climate change responsibilities.

Members heard that AI technology was also another emerging technology that is likely to have a great impact on the service industry. Through the development of smart phones AI technology was already present in a lot of daily activities and so as the technology evolves and develops it is the responsibility of the council to understand how the authority makes conscious decisions to use the technology.

It was also heard that emerging technology involving augmented reality could benefit the council across a number of different areas including the use of the technology in the housing sector to allow users to virtually interact with prospective properties and also to help plan safety and evacuation procedures through the use of augmented reality.

Through the use of technology including the advancements in AI the council had a number of potential areas to consider:

·       Traffic management

·       Road maintenance

·       Efficiency of waste collection

·       Effectiveness of customer service

·       Improved post and email management

·       Improved information for decision-making

·       Automation of repetitive tasks (where appropriate)

·       Improving healthcare and resident safety

Members heard that there were key issues to consider with the use of Artificial Intelligence including:

·       Ethical considerations

·       Governance

·       Information limitations, bias and inaccuracy

·       Data ownership and data protection

·       Cyber security

Members noted that to further considerations were required to fully exploit the technology including the current state of ICT across the authority where the current state is a diverse ICT estate and represents a developing ICT Strategy for the council.

A Corporate approach within Digital culture and Upskilling and reskilling to enable AI is another key consideration as well as skills and capacity, investment and savings and finally priority, risk and choices

Members heard that going forward the next steps for the authority would be to continue to build understanding and skills as well as constructing a structured approach to evaluation whilst considering an approach to innovation to help build business cases for the council.

The Executive Forward Plan for 1^st July 2023 to 31^st  October was noted.

The forward list of items for the EAP was considered.

Members noted that the following items would be bought before the EAP at a future date for consideration:

·       Consultation Engagement

·       Communication Approach

o   Methods of Engagement

o   Website Review

·       Cyber Security

·       Customer Service – CRM Launch Update

There being no further business, the Chair thanked Members and Officers for their attendance and closed the meeting.