The Joint Committee of the London Boroughs of Brent, Lewisham and Southwark met to discuss updates to their shared technology service, including performance, security, and future plans. The committee also considered revisions to the Inter Authority Agreement and social value initiatives. A key focus was on ensuring the technology services align with the needs of each borough and provide value for money.

Shared Technology Service Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the Shared Technology Services (STS). The STS Performance Update report included key performance indicators for the service across all three councils.

The report noted that:

SLA performance for priority 3 (P3) operational incident issues have remained the same and priority 4 (P4) operational request calls SLA have been maintained at the same level compared with the previous reporting period. This has come with a reduction in open calls, and these together show good progress in overall operational performance.

The report also highlighted that the STS had achieved the second-lowest amount of open issues and requests for staff since the service began, despite having the largest user base on record.

Other points that were scheduled to be raised were:

• The implementation of a new Customer Experience survey to gain improved feedback on customer interactions.
• The reprocurement of the Telephony Service Desk with tighter service levels.
• Positive recent audit reviews, with the lowest amount of outstanding audit actions remaining.
• The effect of the new Procurement Act which came into effect in February 2025.
• Laptop projects underway for Brent, Lewisham and Southwark.
• The go-live of a new third-party Security Operations Centre for all three councils at the end of January 2025.
• The purchase of a new vulnerability management tool for laptops.
• Agreed savings for 2025/26, with discussions ongoing for further savings in 2026/27.

The report also included detail on service level performance between March and May 2025, including statistics on Priority 1, 2, 3 and 4 incidents, and the work of the onsite support teams.

The report also detailed a number of service improvements, including:

• The expansion of the VIP Teams Chat service between the on-site team, executive office and the cabinet office in Lewisham.
• Enhancements to the Qminder face to face support service.
• Enforcement of a clear desk policy.
• Enhanced utilisation of build and storage areas.
• IT presence at Full Council and AGM meetings.
• A new iPhone repair service.
• Management of escalations and CSAT.
• Improved SLAs.

The report also provided updates on continuous service improvement, risks, audits, the technology road map, and project updates, including the Windows 11 migration.

Procurement Updates

The committee was scheduled to discuss procurement updates, including the new Procurement Act that went live on 24 February 2025. The Public Reports Pack noted that tender templates were being updated in conjunction with the new Procurement Act and updated changes to Brent's constitution.

The report also noted that the procurement team were working with key suppliers on how they will deliver social value within the contracts, and that they had created an additional clause to be inserted into all new contracts above £100,000 in value, to hold the supplier responsible for the monetary reimbursement of any social value that is not delivered.

Council Updates

The committee was scheduled to receive digital updates from each of the three councils.

Brent Digital Update

Brent's digital programme began in 2017, and a refreshed Digital Strategy for 2022-26 was agreed in December 2021. Projects delivered from March to June 2025 include:

• Exceeding the 2026 connectivity target of 62% full fibre coverage, currently at 68.6%.
• Providing over 190 devices to digitally excluded residents via the Digital Support Fund for Children and Young People and Resident Digital Support Fund.
• Reviewing and streamlining Social Care Mosaic forms and workflows.
• Rolling out digital inclusion support for businesses as part of a Digital Support Programme for SMEs.
• Providing staff digital skills support through a dedicated work programme.
• Launching three new Robotic Process Automations (RPAs).
• Successfully deploying the Responsive Repairs and Planned Works (Section 20).
• Implementing patches and creating new dashboards in Dynamics.
• Deploying 2 high and 2 low complexity automations.
• Launching Brent Council's first Conversational AI parking chatbot.
• Providing 157 active users with copilot licenses.
• Launching a new Corporate Booking System called Bookings Plus.
• Successfully launching a new contract with 8x8 Contact Centre Solution on 1 May.

Lewisham Digital Update

Lewisham has completed fibre installation to approximately 12,000 Lewisham Homes properties. Other projects delivered include:

• Completion of 4G/5G connectivity mapping to identify 'not spots' for mobile coverage in MapThat.
• Initiation of Strategic Infrastructure Fund (SIF) fibre installation project to enable digital CCTV in communal properties and hostels.
• Setting up and rolling out an IT&D Roadmap.
• Going live with procurement for 2600 laptops and support.
• Completion of an IT Project Audit.
• Implementation of Generic Fixed Penalty Notices.
• Digital projects for Pest Control, Bulky Waste, MASH Multi Agency safeguarding hub, Body Storage mortuaries, and Discretionary Housing Payments.
• Single View (SystemC) live and providing specified ASC, CSC & Education and YJ data in one place.
• Groupwork (SystemC) new module is now live, supporting family centres/children's centres and youth services.
• Bottomline PTX Drive transitioned to AMT.
• Modern.Gov transitioned to AMT.
• File Transfers/Scripting transitioned to AMT.
• Automation developed & introduced for LAS/LCS user management.
• Utility (software) developed & implemented to monitor and alert on key server health.

Southwark Digital Update

Southwark is working to improve its partnership with Shared Technology Services (STS). Draft updates to the agreement, covering governance, procurement, and financial principles, have been shared with partners and are being reviewed.

The team is addressing digital inclusion and infrastructure expansion, and there is an ongoing request to extend SD-WAN connectivity and support from STS to communal areas in housing estates and school spaces.

Cybersecurity remains a high priority, with the implementation of a formal third-party supplier assurance framework, the introduction of Risk Ledger for continuous monitoring, and the embedding of robust access, audit, and incident response controls across all supplier engagements.

The Modern Data Platform (MDP) is transitioning to Microsoft Fabric, and Access Database(s) replacement has been prioritised in line with the introduction of the Windows 11 laptops, being replaced with PowerApps in the main.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is being actively deployed across Southwark Council to streamline repetitive, rule-based tasks, using UiPath.

AI is being scaled across the council to support smarter, data-driven services, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is being positioned to replace the legacy F5 VPN.

The Laptop Refresh Programme is a major transformation initiative to modernise the council's digital estate, replacing ageing Lenovo laptops with Microsoft Surface devices and upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11.

Inter Authority Agreement

The committee was scheduled to discuss some revisions that have been proposed to the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA).

Cyber Security Update Report

The committee was scheduled to consider a report providing updates on the Cyber Security status, threats, and mitigations identified in relation to the Shared Technology Services. Due to the sensitive nature of the information, the press and public were scheduled to be excluded from this part of the meeting.