In the office at 0730 to prepare for a meeting with the LGSS (sharing back office functions with Northamptonshire) Director of Operations at 0800. We discussed a range of matters including how effectively our IT dept has integrated within LGSS.

We also explored how important IT is in transforming services across the council. Sometimes our unsung hero’s in IT don’t always get recognised for all the hard work they put in. I am reminded how people are quick to critise when things go wrong. It is rare for someone to rush in to the IT dept and declare loudly “my IT works really well and helps me do my job”. My thanks to the team.

This meeting was followed by a review of the superfast broadband project progress. Things are moving along at a pace now. I remain frustrated with how long it takes to make things happen, largely because of rules imposed from elsewhere. Still, I am content that we have a realistic plan, the right people to execute on it with the result that this county will have superfast broadband as soon as possible.

Next up was a meeting with a supplier of our software which supports childrens services. I have been leaning on our supplier to up their game on the service they supply which I am pleased to see has had an impact. Having run IT companies I was able to talk the language and not be fobbed off.