DMFD99 Facilitating Flexible Working for Staff

1.1 Report LFC-0429y to the London Fire Commissioner (LFC) sets out the background for the request to purchase new equipment to enable flexible working for staff based at the London Fire Brigade’s (the Brigade’s) Head Quarters (HQ) at Union Street.

1.2 In 1999 the London Fire Brigade moved from shared personal computers (PCs) all linked to central servers to a ‘thin client’ model delivering a managed desktop to all office-based users; fire station staff share ‘thin client’ terminals. This solution has evolved over time and allowed the Brigade to grow the number of supported devices to over 2,200 ‘thin client’ terminals distributed across Brigade locations, including at fire stations.

1.3 The ‘thin client’ desktop will remain in use for the foreseeable future as it still provides the most cost-effective means of delivering applications to any location with a very small support team. The original solution has evolved significantly since its inception and now delivers over 150 applications to users and utilises zero client devices, meaning no software, other than device management tools is installed locally. These devices still provide the most cost-effective solution for staff with a fixed base such as fire stations, where alternative solutions are now in place for mobile working through appliance tablets and Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs).

1.4 Whilst the fixed terminal solution could be extended to homes there are some limitations particularly around mobile working. In recent years, the Brigade has invested significantly in tablet computers which, combined with our remote access solution, provides staff with the flexibility to access the thin client desktop from anywhere.

1.5 The Brigade’s Modern Workplace Programme – delivering a Windows 10 desktop and Microsoft 365 – has the potential to transform ways of working. This programme, along with others such as the audio-visual refresh at fire stations, will provide an opportunity to make the best use of new technology, including the collaboration and communications opportunities offered by products such as Microsoft Teams, delivered as part of Microsoft 365.

1.6 To support the strategic intent for transformation in the workplace, it is clear that the Brigade needs to re-think information and communication technology (ICT) service provision to make it flexible enough to fit into whatever working scenario is adopted by the Brigade. The objective will be to provide modern equipment that allows Brigade staff to be more flexible, working in the office, from home and a range of other locations, in a safe and sustainable way. It is now also possible to provide devices for station-based station commanders and some staff in area offices.

1.7 A key aspect of this proposal is to leverage the investment in equipment already in place and, where possible, to maintain a consistent hardware estate and compatibility with existing kit, which will greatly aid the support function.

2.1 In order to change the way the HQ building at Union Street is used, the Brigade’s Assistant Director, Property has been working on a proposal to reduce the Brigade footprint in the building and create a more flexible workspace. The ICT environment needs to adapt and change to support any new flexible ways of working.

2.2 The proposal is to provide all staff based at HQ with a Brigade-issued tablet or laptop, with carry case and headset, and to provide the equipment to allow this to be used at workstations at Union Street and at home. The proposal is to install docking stations into existing workspaces at Union Street (subject to social distancing requirements) and to issue staff with a display screen, keyboard and mouse for use at home.

2.3 In considering this solution the Brigade has identified the need for simple connectivity capability, at home and in the office, which would be provided by a docking station that is capable of supporting either a laptop or a tablet and is compatible with our existing investment. Given the new ways of working, conferencing facilities that deliver minimum disruption to others (e.g. by using a headset) is required as is portability, ease of use and a small desktop footprint. In addition, to improve communication with all staff, the deployment of conferencing facilities to all sites and meeting spaces will require the addition of a Microsoft Teams room licence for these locations.

2.4 Staff will have the ability to use video conferencing via Microsoft Teams on their device at work (as they do at home). In addition, the intention will be to provide facilities for staff to use their new tablet/laptop to make and receive telephone calls (via unified communications software). This will negate the requirement for large numbers of desktop telephones to be retained or additional mobile phones to be issued and obviating the need for staff to use personal mobile or landline phones for work purposes. This ‘unified communications’ is currently subject to technical evaluation, which will confirm an appropriate way forward.

Costs

2.5 There are several elements that make up the total cost of the proposed solution:

• Equipment purchase costs (capital) of £900,000; and

• Support contract additional costs (revenue) of £159,375 per annum.

2.6 In addition, report LFC-0429y mentions in-house support costs (revenue) of £47,000 which can be funded from existing budgets and does not form part of the above costs and is, therefore not part of the Deputy Mayor’s decision but is included here for completeness.

Equipment purchase costs

2.7 The exact cost may vary due to several factors including general market conditions and exchange rates, but estimates are based on current market costs of the equipment as set out in the table below.

Support – additional costs

2.8 There is a range of additional costs to support the extra equipment as outlined in the table below. There are three different existing contracts (i.e. contracts covering ‘break-fix’, mobile data and Microsoft software) that provide the flexibility to vary the volumes of items covered within the terms of those contracts. The Brigade’s Procurement team have confirmed that the current contracts can be varied. The contract to provide third-party support for hardware (i.e. ‘break/fix’) does not cover minor items, like headsets, cabling, etc., for which budget provision is made. Cost estimates have been prepared for the support elements of this proposal in accordance with current contract rates for these services and are detailed below.

2.9 These additional costs can be met by repurposing the existing desktop and server budgets.

Continuing need for some ‘thin client’ terminals at HQ

2.10 The current thin client equipment is due for renewal in 2021/22 and this proposal, if approved, will change that requirement. It will reduce the overall deployment of thin client terminals by approximately 600 devices (28 per cent of the estate). This change has been reflected in the revised Capital programme set out below. There will be a need to retain some ‘thin client’ terminal capability at Union Street to ensure that any Brigade user visiting from another location will still be able to access their desktop; the location of these devices is still to be determined.

Consequence of not agreeing this proposal

2.11 The COVID-19 lockdown has underlined the need to equip staff based at HQ to work in a more flexible way. It is clear that going forward, the Brigade needs to support its staff to work flexibly at any Brigade location, and from home (or other non-Brigade location). The provision of fixed ‘thin client’ workstations across the HQ building does not provide that flexibility, and many staff working from home are having to rely on personal devices for work purposes, including personal phones for making work calls. The standard of personal equipment staff are using at home varies, leading to a range of different issues accessing Brigade systems remotely. During lockdown, the Brigade has tactically provided equipment for some staff who were not equipped to work from home (e.g. they have never needed to use remote access, share computers at home with others in the household). The proposition in this paper provides a level playing field for all HQ staff and ensures that they have modern similar equipment that will support Brigade systems, including Microsoft 365, and will significantly improve the way many staff are able to work from home.

2.12 If the proposition in this paper is not agreed, then the Brigade:

• might fail to achieve full legal compliance with the relevant regulations (including Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations;

• could limit the ability of top managers, and supervisors to communicate effectively with all staff;

• might impact on the ability of some staff to work effectively from home; and

• might need to put in place support for those staff that need to receive and make external phone calls as part of their work, and who are currently using personal phones.

Capital Funding

2.13 The equipment purchase costs of this proposal (i.e. £900,000) can be fully funded from four projects within the existing capital programme for 2020/21 and 2021/22 by adjusting the existing programme of work.

2.14 The changes in this table are fully reflected in the adjustments to the capital programme/strategy in table 4 below.

2.15 The equipment deployed as part of this proposal will need to be replaced in the future with the life of the tablets being three years (in 2023/24) and the desktop setup (e.g. screen, keyboard) in five years (in 2026/27). This replacement cost is partially offset by the reduction in the future refresh of ‘thin client’ equipment (every six years). The increase in the number of devices deployed since the capital strategy was last updated means there will be an increased requirement to cover replacement of equipment when life expired.

2.16 This need to replace equipment in the future is reflected in the table below showing expenditure over the next seven years with the existing capital strategy compared to the revised requirements (based on the proposals outlined in this report). Over the seven years illustrated, the proposals in this paper will require additional capital expenditure of £219,000 by 2026/27. This additional cost arises not only from the expenditure outlined in this report but also from growth in the overall volume in devices deployed and inflationary pressures built into the strategy.

Alternative options considered and consultation

2.17 The report proposes to equip staff to work flexibly from any location, including from home. The proposal reflects the experience of the COVID-19 lockdown, and the need to ensure that staff have the right equipment to access Brigade IT systems.

2.18 An alternative proposal would be to continue to ask staff to use personal equipment or to reimburse staff for equipment costs at home. It is clear, from the number of laptop and tablet devices issued during the start of the lockdown, that many staff share home equipment and found it difficult to work when another member of their household needed to use a device. In addition, the ICT Service Desk have had to deal with a larger number of support calls from staff who experience problems accessing Brigade systems from home devices. Such calls can be difficult (or impossible) to resolve given the varying nature and age of home equipment, and different operating systems. The proposal in this report would provide a common standard of equipment and operating system (Windows 10) which will make central ICT support much simpler. The equipment will also provide staff with a consistent way of accessing Brigade systems, and variations in experience will be much less likely.

Collaboration opportunities

2.19 Under the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the London Fire Commissioner has a duty to keep collaboration opportunities (with police and ambulance services) under review and, where it is in the interests of efficiency or effectiveness, to put those collaboration opportunities into practice. As referred to in the introduction to this paper, colleagues in procurement are currently examining a number of collaborative frameworks right across the public sector. Paragraph 2.21 below sets out more information.

2.20 There is a need to establish a new procurement for screens, docking stations, headsets, and laptops/tablets, and this will be undertaken in conjunction with the Assistant Director, Technical and Commercial. This may be purchased utilising the frameworks that can be utilised, but that will be an option to be agreed.

2.21 A decision has been taken not to make use of the TfL ICT Resellers Framework as commercially it does not offer best value when compared to other frameworks that are available for our use. Contact has however been made with the GLA Collaborative Procurement Team to seek interest from other functional bodies who may have a similar requirement. They have confirmed that there are no collaborative agreements available for LFC to utilise and no interest in collaborating has been received from other functional bodies.

2.22 Other potential collaborative procurement routes that have been identified to date are the use of the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Technology Products & Associated Services Framework (TePAS), the NHS London Procurement Partnership (LPP) Information Management & Technology (IM&T) Framework, and the Pan London ICT Framework (Lot 4) that was tendered by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea on behalf of the London Public Sector as a collaborative framework.

2.23 Technology Products & Associated Services (TePAS) offers public sector buyers a flexible and compliant way to source all their technology product needs. This is the first iteration of the Technology Products framework to have associated services in its scope. Some 61 per cent of the suppliers on this framework are an SME. The UK public sector and their associated bodies and agencies, including the voluntary sector and charities, can use this framework.

2.24 LPP has established the Information, Management & Technology (IM&T) Framework which consists of suitably experienced, capable, qualified and resourced suppliers available for use by NHS trusts, clinical commissioning groups, GP services and other health and social care providers within the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, as well as local authorities and third sector organisations. The purpose of the framework is to provide a compliant route to market for each of the initiatives.

2.25 The Pan London ICT Framework (Lot 4) was tendered by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea on behalf of the London public sector. The aim of the framework is to deliver best value to London’s public sector through a catalogue price structure, faster cost-effective procurement process and flexibility. The framework offers a catalogue of services by BT which is supported by several the market leading IT/communications vendors. This framework has offered an alternative route to market when there has not been a collaborative opportunity available via the GLA, or a suitable CCS framework. The framework also allows for a tender exercise to be carried out. Formal benchmarking is regularly undertaken by an external company against a minimum of eight top quartile peers and an overall ‘value for money’ rating has been awarded.

3.1 The London Fire Commissioner and the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience are required to have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty (s149 of the Equality Act 2010) when taking decisions. This in broad terms involves understanding the potential impact of policy and decisions on different people, taking this into account and then evidencing how decisions were reached.

3.2 It is important to note that consideration of the Public Sector Equality Duty is not a one-off task. The duty must be fulfilled before taking a decision, at the time of taking a decision, and after the decision has been taken.

3.3 The protected characteristics are: Age, Disability, Gender reassignment, Pregnancy and maternity, Marriage and civil partnership (but only in respect of the requirements to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination), Race (ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality), Religion or belief (including lack of belief), Sex, and Sexual orientation.

3.4 The Public Sector Equality Duty requires decision-takers in the exercise of all their functions, to have due regard to the need to:

(a) eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other prohibited conduct;

(b) advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; and

(c) foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

3.5 Having due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it involves having due regard, in particular, to the need to:

(a) remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by persons who share a relevant protected characteristic where those disadvantages are connected to that characteristic;

(b) take steps to meet the needs of persons who share a relevant protected characteristic that are different from the needs of persons who do not share it; and

(c) encourage persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any other activity in which participation by such persons is disproportionately low.

3.6 The steps involved in meeting the needs of disabled persons that are different from the needs of persons who are not disabled include, in particular, steps to take account of disabled persons' disabilities.

3.7 Having due regard to the need to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it involves having due regard, in particular, to the need to:

(a) tackle prejudice; and

(b) promote understanding.

3.8 An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) was undertaken on 28/09/20. The impact assessment found outline positive impacts identified for those with disabilities, because of the provision of enhanced visual and audio capability (including the ability to dictate rather than type) via Windows 10, and Microsoft 365, was thought to be of particular benefit to this group. These facilities, particularly those available with Microsoft 365, may obviate the need for specialist software.

Workforce comments

4.1 There has been no planned workforce consultation. Some initial discussions have taken place with the group representing staff with disabilities, given the perceived benefits for those staff as outlined in the ‘equality impact’ section in this report. Some 800 staff will be affected by this proposal and detailed communication will take place with these staff about the roll-out, if the proposal is agreed.

Sustainability implications

4.2 Existing support contracts have been set-up so that the Brigade can vary its asset (equipment) base substantially, if required, over the life of the contract. Such contracts can be varied to (a) extend the support provided, (b) put in place appropriate software licences, and (c) increase the number of mobile data contracts required to support this initiative. The Brigade’s Assistant Director, Technical and Commercial, has confirmed that the consequential increased demand arising from the purchase of additional equipment can be met under the existing three contracts, that it is within the terms of those contracts, and within the relevant contract value.

4.3 Any new procurement activity will need to be undertaken in line with the GLA Group Responsible Procurement policy. As part of delivery of this policy, the GLA Group has become an affiliate member of Electronics Watch ,( The mission of Electronics Watch is to help public sector organisations work together, and collaborate with civil society monitors in production regions, to protect the rights of workers in their electronics supply chains)which requires the inclusion of additional terms and conditions for contracts with significant hardware purchases. The terms aim to improve the transparency of the supply chain and management of any non-compliance with labour standards identified with the support of Electronics Watch. Where hardware replacement of considerable value forms part of the requirement for any of the options proposed, additional terms covering ethical sourcing will need to be included in the tender or re-negotiation.

5.1 This report recommends that capital expenditure of up to £900,000 is agreed for new equipment to allow better flexible working. Funding for this is included in the capital programme and this report sets out how this will be managed by diverting existing resources, for a net reduction in the programme overall of £158,000 over seven years. If the £900,000 cost is funded through borrowing this will result in capital financing costs of £207,000 annually for five years made up of £27,000 in interest payments and £180k in minimum revenue provision.

5.2 The report also notes that there would be an ongoing revenue costs of £159,375 plus inflationary increases in line with the contract requirements to support the extra equipment, this cost can be met by repurposing the existing desktop and server replacement budgets for the length of the contract. The Brigade has a process for applying indexation to all items that are set out in the medium-term forecast, as this item is.

6.1 This report seeks approval of new expenditure relation to equipment and support to enable better flexible working arrangements for staff at Headquarters and elsewhere.

6.2 Under section 9 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the London Fire Commissioner (the "Commissioner") is established as a corporation sole with the Mayor appointing the occupant of that office.

6.3 Section 1 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (the “2004 Act”) states that the Commissioner is the fire and rescue authority for Greater London.

6.4 Under section 327D of the Greater London Authority Act 1999, as amended by the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the Mayor may issue to the Commissioner specific or general directions as to the manner in which the holder of that office is to exercise his or her functions.

6.5 By direction dated 1 April 2018, the Mayor set out those matters, for which the Commissioner would require the prior approval of either the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience (the "Deputy Mayor"). In particular, paragraph 2.1. (b) requires prior approval from the Deputy Mayor where there is a commitment to expenditure (capital or revenue) of £150,000 or above as identified in accordance with normal accounting practices. The decision for new equipment far exceeds this value, therefore, this report to the Deputy Mayor fulfils the aforementioned requirement.

6.6 The Brigade’s Procurement department must ensure any tender exercise for the new equipment and changes to existing contracts for additional support is properly conducted in compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the GLA Group Responsible Procurement policy and the internal procurement standing orders prior to the decision to award a contract or the modification of any current contracts.

6.7 The specification for any new equipment should also ensure compliance with The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 in order to protect employees and workers from health risks associated with display screen equipment.

• Report LFC-0429y – Facilitating Flexible Working for Staff at Union Street HQ