Agenda item

This report provides an update on key programme and project activity.  It also provides information on the work that the Council is carrying out to strengthen project and programme management.

Members considered a report which provided an update on key programme and project activity.  It also provided information on the work that the Council was carrying out to strengthen project and programme management.  Members were asked to provide feedback on any further data they wished to see included in future update reports.

The Members who had been able to attend the briefing session on project management, which had included the opportunity to see the Verto system, stated that this had been very useful.

(Councillor Barnes withdrew from the meeting.  Councillor Dew in the Chair)

Concerns were expressed that insufficient information had been provided to the committee regarding the Community Stadium project, particularly with regard to finance and procurement issues.  Officers stated that the report had been intended to provide a summary of the main projects but that more detailed information could be provided to the committee should they so wish. In response to Members’ concerns that they may not have access to commercially sensitive information relating to the community stadium project, officers gave assurances that the committee would be provided with all the necessary information it required to carry out its responsibilities.  Where necessary, the arrangements for dealing with exempt information, would be applied. 

Members asked that consideration be given to including the following information in future programme/project management update reports:

·        Where another committee had already received a detailed report on a project it would be helpful for the summary update report to include a hyperlink to enable Members to access more detailed information if required.

·        A traffic light system to better identify any emerging issues in respect of finance or timescales.

·        Differentiating between dependencies, and where applicable, interdependencies in the summary template.

·        The inclusion of the names of the Executive Member and the Director within responsibility for each project.

Members welcomed the instigation of gateways in the project management process and agreed that it would be useful for the committee to receive updates on particular projects at these time points.  They also agreed that it would be helpful for Members to have access to the Verto system once this was rolled out across the Council.  Members also commented on the need to ensure that when projects were being considered, full consideration was given to factors around managing ambition and the capacity to deliver.

Members commented on the need to ensure that the work they were undertaking in respect of programme and project management did not duplicate work being undertaken by other committees but they agreed on the importance of ensuring that they intervened at an early stage when projects were not on target.  Members suggested that it would be useful for the committee to have a greater understanding of general procurement processes in respect of project management.

(Councillor Barnes returned to the meeting and took the Chair)

Resolved:  (i)      That the report be noted.

(ii)      That the feedback from Members regarding the information they would wish to receive in respect of project management be taken into account in future update reports.¹

Reasons:   (i)      To ensure that the committee is kept updated on

                             key programme and project activity.

(ii)      To ensure that Members receive the necessary information enable them to carry out their responsibilities as an Audit and Governance Committee member.