This was a meeting to note the decision that had been made by Abi Robinson, Dover District Council's Digital and Technology Services Manager, to approve a project for the purchase and implementation of the True Compliance management system.

Decision Notice - Implementation of True Compliance

A decision notice was included in the reports pack to inform Councillors that Abi Robinson, Dover District Council's Digital and Technology Services Manager, had made a decision to approve the procurement and implementation of True Compliance.

The decision notice explains that the decision was made as part of the Digital and ICT Programme that was agreed as part of the Council's budget for 2024/25 and Medium-Term Financial Plan for 2024/25-2027/28. This decision gives the Digital Services Manager the authority to approve projects in the Digital and ICT Programme, in consultation with the Head of Finance & Investment, and the relevant Portfolio Holder, in this case Councillor Jamie Pout, the Portfolio Holder for Transport, Licensing and Environmental Services.

The reports pack contains a copy of the report that was prepared to support the Digital and Technology Services Manager's decision.

Summary of the decision report

The report prepared by David Parish, the Head of Property Assets, explains that:

Ensuring that Dover District Council's housing and corporate assets are compliant is one of the Property Assets team’s primary functions.

It goes on to explain that the Council is looking to improve on the work it already does to ensure its housing stock is compliant by implementing True Compliance. The report explains that:

DDC is now looking to build further on this work by moving to True Compliance which uses advanced Artificial Intelligence-supported cloud technology to provide a sophisticated compliance monitoring system with superior document and action management capability.

It explains that this will initially be used to manage compliance for asbestos, lifts, water hygiene, gas, electrical and fire safety in the council's housing stock, but that:

Once the HRA big 6 are live, a further roll-out and use of the system across Property Assets will begin which will cover corporate properties as well as providing additional reporting tools for both housing and corporate monitoring.

The report describes the benefits of using True Compliance, and why the decision maker should choose to implement it. It explains that:

True Compliance will replace several existing portals/systems currently providing emergency reporting and data support. Decommissioning these functionally limited systems will save up to £150,000 per annum.

The report explains that True Compliance will be paid for from the Council's Housing Revenue Account at a cost of £33,200 per year, and that the contract will be for 3 years. The report explains that:

Officers from Property Assets implementing True Compliance will be required for onboarding, data validation, training and setup of the processes/workflows for the implementation of the system (which is expected to take approximately 9 months). This work will be undertaken within the existing team under the supervision and oversight of the Strategic Systems and Performance Officer.

It concludes by listing the comments made by other officers within the council, including the Director of Finance, the Solicitor to the Council and the Equalities Officer.