Issue - meetings

That the Committee support the action taken to resolve issues in order to take forward mobile working in Housing Services.

The Housing Asset Manager introduced a report to update Committee Members on the current status of mobile working in Housing Services.

To date, over 7000 jobs had been issued and completed using mobile devices.  The PDA was now used by 35 repairs staff.  There had been regular meetings between Corporate ICT and PDA software suppliers and phone suppliers to discuss any ongoing issues.  The Housing Department was now looking at training 15 gas operatives in the technology over the next 15 weeks.  The current PDAs were now two years old and the Housing Department were researching upgraded devices and software with Corporate ICT, Software and PDA suppliers.  It was proposed that the next area to undertake mobile working would be the responsive repairs section.

Councillor W.P. Shotton thanked the Housing Asset Manager for the report and asked if the trials with the 3G device had been successful.  The Head of Housing said that it had, but she was also confident that the right devices had been purchased initially - 3G had not been readily available when the original devices were bought.  Where there had been issues with voice and data, separate mobiles for tradesmen had been purchased.

Councillor J.E. Falshaw asked if there would be any recompense from the suppliers in relation to all the issues that had been raised and whether other Councils had reported similar problems.  He also asked if 4G would be suitable.  The Head of Housing said that the device that was purchased met the specification set by Capita.  The voice and data issue could not be resolved on the original device.  The Head of Housing said that 4G could provide an improvement but there was not good 3G coverage yet in rural areas of Flintshire.  Other services had experienced similar issues but had since purchased different devices.

Councillor M.A. Reece asked if a tradesperson had a laptop if it would take the job out of the system once completed.  The Housing Asset Manager said that electricians had lap tops and were able to do specification on site and email certificates back to the office.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee support the action taken to resolve issues in order to take forward mobile working in Housing Services.