Agenda item

[Charlotte Johns (Director of Strategy) to present the report]. 

[This item is being considered as pre-decision scrutiny and will therefore not be available for Call-in once a decision has been made by the Executive]. 

The Chair advised the panel that the Digital Wolves Strategy was being presented panel for pre-decision scrutiny and therefore would not be available for Call-in once a decision has been made by the Executive. The Chair invited Charlotte Johns, Director of Strategy to present the report.

The Director of Strategy advised the panel that it would be a joint presentation with Heather Clark, Head of External Funding and Digital Projects.

The Director of Strategy advised the panel the draft Digital Wolverhampton Strategy was being presented for pre-decision scrutiny before it is sent to Cabinet on 23 March 2022 for approval. 

The Director of Strategy introduced a presentation which outlined the background to the development of the strategy, and the three overarching aims of the strategy to maximise the benefits of digital to residents and businesses, and an overview of the five key themes to deliver them. The Director of Strategy advised the panel that there is a public consultation ongoing and the feedback on the Draft Digital Wolverhampton Strategy would be included in the report presented to Cabinet. 

The Director of Strategy commented on the link between the digital strategy and the Relighting Our City priorities and the delivery of effective and efficient public services.  The new strategy aims to maximise the benefits of digital more broadly to residents and businesses in the city. The Director of Strategy briefed the panel on the key themes of Wolverhampton’s Digital Infrastructure Strategy which was adopted in January 2020 and commented on the progress to date.

The Director of Strategy invited the Head of External Funding and Digital Projects to continue with the presentation. The Head of External Funding and Digital Projects outlined the approach to the development of the strategy and the vision. 

The Head of External Funding and Digital Projects outlined the aims of the strategy and gave specific details of progress against each of the listed priorities.

The Director of Strategy offered reassurance that the draft has been developed through ongoing engagement and will be supported by detailed action plans to ensure the delivery of the strategy.

The Director of Strategy briefed the panel on some of the issues highlighted in responses to the consultation, for example, 5G and health implications and possible security risks. The Director of Strategy commented on the misinformation during the early months of the pandemic and the wholly unsubstantiated link between 5G masts and the spread of Covid 19 which led to telecommunications workers being wrongly targeted. The Director of Strategy reassured the panel of the robust evidence from scientists and public health experts, and the WHO that there is no risk to the public health from the use of 5G technology.

The Director of Strategy commented on concerns in the media, nationally and internationally, about potential security risks, particularly from Chinese owned companies and their involvement in digital infrastructure development. The Director of Strategy reassured the panel that cyber security and other risks continue to be managed to meet the highest levels of security and the companies involved comply with requirements of the Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021.

The panel were invited to comment on the draft strategy.

The panel queried the timetable for when homes and businesses where street cabling work had been completed would be connected to the full fibre broadband network. The Director of Strategy advised the panel that in terms of the commercial rollout of the full fibre network with City Fibre, 17,000 premises have been connected. In terms of connecting homes to the network, owners will be contacted by the infrastructure provider when it is possible to change to a broadband provider to receive the benefits of a full fibre network.

The panel shared concerns from a local business looking for premises which offered full fibre network needed and not being able to find the service available in the city centre or Wolverhampton Science Park and as a result the owner decided to locate to a site outside of Wolverhampton.

The Director of Strategy commented that because of the work of the digital infrastructure strategy there is full fibre broadband within the city including the city centre which has enabled local businesses to benefit from the increased broadband speeds. The Director of Strategy advised the panel to refer queries from residents or businesses with digital connectivity issues to the Head of External Funding and Digital Projects and members of her team for advice about how they can best access the highest quality digital infrastructure.

The Director of Strategy commented on the importance of the strategy and advised the panel that based on an economic assessment of the introduction of a local full fibre network, that over a period of 15 years it is expected to benefit the local economy by more than £149 million.

The panel commented on the challenges experienced by older residents when using the internet and queried the support available to help them. The Head of External Funding and Digital Projects advised the panel that the Council is working with a network of 30 trusted partners on local schemes to provide a range of individualised support, for as long as needed, to help people get connected to the internet where they are having problems getting online.

The panel queried the risk of raising unnecessary concerns people about the rollout of the full fibre broadband with the phrasing used in some parts of public document. The Head of External Funding and Digital Projects agreed to review the wording of the sections highlighted to clarify where necessary to avoid a risk of possible misunderstanding among the public.

The panel commented on the map showing the relative risk of digital deprivation and expressed concern that this will add a further barrier to the range of existing challenges and issues residents living in these areas are already experiencing.

The Head of External Funding and Digital Projects commented that the trusted partner network includes a range of organisations who will work with the communities highlighted, for example, the Refugee Migrant Centre, to provide the support required. In addition, the service is looking at aligning a place-based hybrid support approach to ensure that there is public wifi available in the communities, where needed.

The panel discussed the safety concerns about the use of 5G network. The panel suggested the issue should be referred to the Director of Public Health to respond directly to any specific concerns.

The Director of Strategy repeated earlier safety reassurances and the strong messages from the international science and public health community about the safety of the 5G technology.

The panel suggested that following on from the previous discussion about the timetable for residents connecting to the full fibre broadband network it was suggested that it would be helpful to get regular updates on when homes should be connected and the overall progress of the rollout of the full fibre programme across Wolverhampton.

The Director of Strategy commented that there is an already an arrangement to brief local Councillors when streets are being dug up to lay cables for full fibre broadband in their ward. The Director of Strategy agreed to work with the infrastructure providers to ensure Councillors are updated when full fibre will be ready to be connected to premises in their wards.

The panel agreed to note the report.

Resolved:

1.    The panel comments on the draft Digital Wolverhampton Strategy be considered by Cabinet on 23 March 2022.

2.    The Director of Strategy agreed to work with the infrastructure providers to ensure Councillors are updated when full fibre will be ready to be connected to premises in their wards and report progress to a future meeting.