Hillingdon Council Cabinet Member and Officer Decisions
Corporate Technology & Innovation 2022/23 Reallocation & Associated Capital Release - Breakspear Crematorium UPS Replacement & Civic Centre UPS Replacement Batteries - Release No 3
Report Document
Can't see the PDF? Download Report
Decision / Minutes Document
Can't see the PDF? Download Minutes
Text extracted from PDFs
View Report Text
Democratic Services Location: Phase II Ext: 0185 DDI: 01895 250185 CMD No: 710 To: COUNCILLOR MARTIN GODDARD CABINET MEMBER FOR FINANCE COUNCILLOR DOUGLAS MILLS CABINET MEMBER FOR CORPORATE SERVICES c.c. All Members of the Finance and Corporate Services Select Committee c.c. Matthew Smith/Michael Clarke – Central Services c.c. Dan Kennedy – Corporate Director of Central Services Date: 27 February 2023 Non-Key Decision request Form D CAPITAL RELEASE REPORT (February 2023) DEPARTMENT: CENTRAL SERVICES SERVICE AREA / PROGRAMME: Corporate Technology & Innovation 2022/23 Reallocation & Associated Capital Release - Breakspear Crematoriu m UPS Replacement & Civic Centre UPS Replacement Batteries (CR 3) RELEASE NO: 3 Dear Cabinet Member Attached is a report requesting that a decision be made by you as an individual Cabinet Member. Democratic Services confirm that this is not a key decision, as such, the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 notice period does not apply. You should take a decision on or after Tuesday 07 March 2023 in order to meet Constitutional requirements about publication of decisions that are to be made. You may wish to discuss the report with the Corporate Director before it is made. Please indicate your decision on the duplicate memo supplied, and return it to me when you have made your decision. I will then arrange for the formal notice of decision to be published. Liz Penny Democratic Services Officer Title of Report: Corporate Technology & Innovation 2022/23 Reallocation & Associated Capital Release - Breakspear Crematorium UPS Replacemen t & Civic Centre UPS Replacement Batteries (CR 3) – Release No.3 Decision made: Reasons for your decision: (e.g. as stated in report) Alternatives considered and rejected: (e.g. as stated in report) Signed ……………………………………………………… Date……………………. Cabinet Member for Finance / Cabinet Member for Corporate Services Capital Release Report – 27 February 2023 Page 1 (Part 1 Public) CAPITAL RELEASE REPORT (February 2023) DEPARTMENT: CENTRAL SERVICES SERVICE AREA / PROGRAMME: Corporate Technology & Innovation 2022/23 Reallocation & Associated Capital Release - Breakspear Crematorium UPS Replacement & Civic Centre UPS Replacement Batteries (CR 3) RELEASE NO: 3 Cabinet Members Councillor Martin Goddard Councillor Douglas Mills Cabinet Portfolios Cabinet Member for Finance Cabinet Member for Corporate Services Officer Contact Michael Clarke – Central Services Matthew Smith - Central Services Papers with report N/A HEADLINES Summary This report asks for agreement to the full replacement of the ICT Breakspear Crematorium UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) that protects network and infrastructure equipment from short -term electrical power failures , and the replacement of batteries in C ore Network UPS units at the Civic Centre. Putting our Residents First This report supports our ambition for residents / the Council of: An efficient, well-run, digital-enabled Council working with partners to deliver services to improve the lives of all our residents. This report supports our commitments to residents of: A Digital-Enabled, Modern, Well-Run Council. Financial Cost This report seeks the reallocation release of £49k from the 2022/23 ICT budget for UPS related work, comprising of full replacement (including removal and WEEE disposal of the existing equipment) of the ICT Breakspear Crematorium UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) that protects network and infrastructure equipment from short-term electrical power failures and for replacement batteries for Core Network UPS systems at the Civic Centre in use by ICT, where the UPS is in -support but new batteries are re commended to replace spent battery units. Capital Release Report – 27 February 2023 Page 2 (Part 1 Public) The works will commence upon release of the funds and are due for completion at the earliest availability of the supplier. Relevant Select Committee Finance and Corporate Services Ward(s) affected All RECOMMENDATIONS That the Cabinet Member for Finance and the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services agree to the capital release request of £23k and the reallocation of £26k of previously released funding from the Corporate Technology & Innovation Programme 2022/23 budget to fund the provision of a replacement UPS at Breakspear Crematorium network infrastructure from electrical power failure, and for the replacement of spent batteries in Core Network UPS units at the Civic Centre (Appendix A). Reasons for recommendation The Breakspear Crematorium ICT Frame room contains networking and server equipment (backup storage and network components) that provide London Borough of Hillingdon off -site backup storage for file -and-print and on-premise application servers. The existing Frame room Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) is over 10 years old, and its current complement of 3 battery units is over 7 years old. A recent Power Supply issue at the Breakspear Crematorium resulted in the full depletion of the battery units, and they will no longer hold a charge . The on- premise infrastructure in the Breakspear Crematorium Frame room is therefore currently running with a direct connection to the incoming electrical power supply. If the electrical supply to the Frame room fails, all equipment in the Frame room will switch off immediately, meaning a loss of service until power is restored and infrastructure and servers brought back online and could result in potential lasting damage to unprotected electrical equipment. For UPS devices that protect Networking equipment around the Civic Centre, the current inventory of battery packs is now 7 years old, and no longer hold a suitable amount of charge to facilitate a reasonable resilient network service should power to the Civic Centre fail. Replacing the batteries in these UPS devices will ensure that they are able to keep the network up in the event of a power failure (including a failure of the Civic Centre Generator) of up to an hour. Alternative options considered / risk management 1. Do nothing: The Breakspear Crematorium frame room ICT equipment would continue to operate with a direct connection to the incoming power supply and be immediately susceptible to any power failures or surges. This option is not recommended. Capital Release Report – 27 February 2023 Page 3 (Part 1 Public) 2. Replace all batteries in the existing UPS. Whilst this option may initially appear to be less costly in the short-term, it is not a recommended solution as the existing UPS is 10 years old, meaning support for other components within the UPS will be difficult/costly to arrange, as technologies reach end of production lifecycles. This option is not recommended. 3. For the Network switches within the Civic Centre, replacing the inventory of batteries is more cost effective than replacing the entire UPS device. The only alternative is to postpone replacement of the batteries and rely upon the diminished charge capacity of the 7-year-old batteries currently in place. This could mean a higher risk of network failure should power to the Civic Centre fail for an extended period of time. This option is not recommended. Select Committee comments None at this stage. SUPPORTING INFORMATION The UPS equipment at Breakspear Crematorium protects ICT Network and Infrastructure components for a short period (approximately an hour) upon detection of a power failure and automates the transition back to standard power once it has been restored. A recent power failure at the Breakspear Crematorium lasted longer than the UPS was able to provide battery power. This resulted in the powering down of all protected equipment and full depletion of the batteries . Since the batteries are reaching the end of their recommended shelf life, they are no longer able to hold a charge once fully depleted, even once electrical power is restored. Following the recent power outage, the result was that power was not restored automatically to the Breakspear Crematorium Frame room, requiring intervention by LBH ICT engineers to manually power on the equipment. Following approval of the Capital Release, ICT will work with the supplier, KeySource, to arrange the following schedule of works: • Removal & Disposal of Existing UPS Batteries during normal hours • Supply of new APC Smart-UPS RT6000 UPS and 2 battery cabinets • Delivery, offload & position of the above equipment during normal hours • Commission of the new APC Symmetra PX UPS system during normal working hours • Delivery and Replacement of Civic Centre Network UPS Batteries during normal working hours. The breakdown of the costs is provided in the table below: - Capital Release Report – 27 February 2023 Page 4 (Part 1 Public) Description Amount Replacement of Breakspear Crematorium Frame Room UPS 11,000 Replacement of Spent UPS Batteries in Civic Centre 37,500 Total £48,500 The reallocation of £26k previously released funds in the Corporate Technology & Innovation Programme reflecting in underspend on the Phase 2 Pathway to Cloud Services scheme. Financial Implications (Corporate Technology & Innovation Programme 2022/23 Budget £853k, Previously Released / Pending Release £830k, Capital Release Requested £23k – Appendix A The 2022/23 Corporate Technology & Innovation revised budget is £853k funded from Council resources. The report requests the re- allocation of £26k and capital release of £23k from the Corporate Technology & Innovation programme budget towards the Breakspear Crematorium replacement UPS and Civic Centre UPS replacement batteries. The reallocation of £26k previously approved released funding within the Corporate Technology & Innovation Programme is based on underspend on the Phase 2 Pathway to Cloud scheme. The cost plan of £49k is based on quotes from KeySource supplier and does not include any fees or contingency. The release requested is netted down to £23k by the proposed reallocation of £26k of previously approved released funding within the Corporate Technology & Innovation budget . Subject to approval of this release, the 2022/23 Corporate Technology & Innovation budget will be fully absorbed. RESIDENT BENEFIT & CONSULTATION The benefit or impact upon Hillingdon residents, service users and communities Replacement of the Breakspear Crematorium UPS will mean an uninterrupted availability of off- site backup service and storage in the event of a short power failure at the Crematorium and will help to protect against larger interruptions to service should a power failure damage unprotected ICT electrical equipment. Replacement of batteries within Civic Centre Network UPS devices will mean an uninterrupted availability of Core Networking functionality within the Civic Centre in the event of a short power failure (including that of the Generator) and will help to protect against larger interruptions to service should a power failure damage unprotected ICT networking infrastructure. Capital Release Report – 27 February 2023 Page 5 (Part 1 Public) Should a power failure damage unprotected ICT and Network equipment, longer interruptions to the service provided to Hillingdon officers may be expected whilst ICT staff source and rebuild any damaged components. Consultation carried out or required Both KeySource and Schneider Electric Products engineers have deemed the existing Breakspear UPS as ‘uneconomical to repair’ . In addition, the existing inventory of batteries contained within Core Network UPS devices at the Civic Centre is 7 years old, and beyond their normal operational lifetime. CORPORATE CONSIDERATIONS Corporate Finance Corporate finance concurs with the above financial implications, noting that the reactive works to secure uninterrupted power supplies at Breakspear Crematorium can be contained within the existing 2022/23 Corporate Technology and Innovation capital budget. Legal The Borough Solicitor confirms that the Council is responsible for carrying out this function pursuant to Section 214 of the Local Government Act 1972. Thus, there are no legal impediments to the capital release being authorised, although any contract that is entered into must comply with the Council's Procurement and Contract Standing Orders. Capital Release Protocol The release of all capital funds, and certain revenue funds, held by the Council is to be made by a formal democratic decision. No expenditure can be placed or committed by officers until this formal approval is given by Democratic Services. Release of funds must be for identified projects only and strictly not for the general release of funds for projects to be identified at a later date. No block releases of capital or funding will be allowed, except if authorised by the Leader of the Council in advance to Corporate Finance. The release of funds will only be made if previous Council, Cabinet or Cabinet Member agreement has been given to the project and only if there is an approved budget. BACKGROUND PAPERS NIL. Capital Release Report – 27 February 2023 Page 6 (Part 1 Public) APPENDIX A Corporate Technology & Innovation Programme 2022/23: Breakspear Crematorium UPS Replacement & UPS Batteries for Civic Centre (CR 3) Location Project / Expenditure Title Information Funds Release Sought £000’s Approve Hold More Information Required Breakspe ar Crematori um, ICT Frame room UPS Replacement Replacement of failed UPS in the Breakspear Crematorium Frame room 11 UPS Battery Replacement Replacement of spent UPS Batteries in Civic Centre 38 Reallocation of underspends on previously released funds (26) Total seeking release 23 Previously released / pending release 830 Budget 853 Remaining budget 0
View Decision / Minutes Text
Executive Decision Notice – 07 March 2023 Page 1
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
OFFICIAL EXECUTIVE DECISION NOTICE
PUBLISHED BY DEMOCRATIC SERVICES
Notice is hereby given that the following decision(s) have been made today by
Cabinet Members at the London Borough of Hillingdon:
Title of decision
CAPITAL RELEASE REPORT (February 2023)
DEPARTMENT: CENTRAL SERVICES
SERVICE AREA / PROGRAMME: Corporate Technology &
Innovation 2022/23 Reallocation & Associated Capital
Release - Breakspear Crematorium UPS Replacement &
Civic Centre UPS Replacement Batteries (CR 3)
RELEASE NO: 3
Reference No. 710
Date of decision Tuesday 07 March 2023
Call-in expiry date Tuesday 14 March 2023
Relevant Select
Committee
Finance and Corporate Services Select Committee
Relevant Wards All wards
Decision made
Cabinet Members
making the decision
Councillor Martin Goddard – Cabinet Member for Finance
Councillor Douglas Mills – Cabinet Member for Corporate
Services
Approved
That the Cabinet Member for Finance and the Cabinet
Member for Corporate Services agreed to the capital
release request of £23k and the reallocation of £26k of
previously released funding from the Corporate
Technology & Innovation Programme 2022/23 budget to
fund the provision of a replacement UPS at Breakspear
Crematorium network infrastructure from electrical power
failure, and for the replacement of spent batteries in C ore
Network UPS units at the Civic Centre.
Reason for decision The Breakspear Crematorium ICT Frame room contains
networking and server equipment (backup storage and network
components) that provide London Borough of Hillingdon off-site
backup storage for file- and-print and on- premise application
servers. The existing Frame room Uninterruptable Power
Supply (UPS) is over 10 years old, and its current complement
of 3 battery units is over 7 years old.
A recent Power Supply issue at the Breakspear Crematorium
resulted in the full depletion of the battery units, and they will no
longer hold a charge. If the electrical supply to the Frame room
Executive Decision Notice – 07 March 2023 Page 2
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
fails, all equipment in the Frame room will switch off
immediately, meaning a loss of service until power is restored
and infrastructure and servers brought back online and could
result in potential lasting damage to unprotected electrical
equipment.
For UPS devices that protect Networking equipment around the
Civic Centre, the current inventory of battery packs is
now 7
years old, and no longer hold a suitable amount of charge to
facilitate a reasonable resilient network service should power to
the Civic Centre fail. Replacing the batteries in these UPS
devices will ensure that they are able to keep the network up in
the event of a power failure (i
ncluding a failure of the Civic
Centre Generator) of up to an hour.
Alternative options
considered and
rejected
Do nothing: The Breakspear Crematorium f rame room ICT
equipment would continue to operate with a direct connection to
the incoming power supply and be immediately susceptible to
any power failures or surges. This option is not recommended.
Replace all batteries in the existing UPS. Whilst this option may
initially appear to be less costly in the short -term, it is not a
recommended solution as the existing UPS is 10 years old,
meaning support for other components within the UPS will be
difficult/costly to arrange, as technologies reach end of
production lifecycles. This option is not recommended.
For the Network switches within the Civic Centre, replacing the
inventory of batteries is more cost effective than replacing the
entire UPS device. The only alternative is to postpone
replacement of the batteries and rely upon the diminished
charge capacity of the 7- year-old batteries currently in place.
This could mean a higher risk of network failure should power to
the Civic Centre fail for an extended period of time. This option
is not recommended.
Classification Part I - Public
Link to associated
report
Here
Relevant Officer
contact & Directorate
Michael Clarke – Central Services
Matthew Smith - Central Services
Any interest declared
by the Cabinet
Member(s) /
dispensation granted
N/A
Executive Decision Notice – 07 March 2023 Page 3
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
Implementation of decision & scrutiny call-in
[Internal Use only]
When can this
decision be
implemented by
officers?
Officers can implement Cabinet Member decision in this notice
only from the expiry of the scrutiny call-in period which is:
5pm on Tuesday 14 March 2023
However, this is subject to the decision not being called in by
Councillors on the relevant Select Committee. Upon receipt of a
valid call-in request, Democratic Services will immediately advise
the relevant officer(s) and the decision must then be put on hold.
Councillor scrutiny
call-in of this
decision
Councillors on the relevant Select Committee shown in this
notice may request to call-in this decision. The request must be
before the expiry of the scrutiny call-in period above.
Councillors should use the Scrutiny Call-in App (link below) on
their devices to initiate any call-in request. Further advice can be
sought from Democratic Services if required:
Scrutiny Call-In - Power Apps (secure)
Further information These decisions, where applicable, have been taken under The
Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and
Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.
This is the formal notice by the Council of the above executive
decision, including links to the reports where applicable.
If you would like more information on this decision, please
contact Democratic Services on 01895 250636 or email:
democratic@hillingdon.gov.uk.
Circulation of this decision notice is to a variety of people
including Members of the Council, Corporate Directors, Officers,
Group Secretariats and the Public. Copies are also placed on
the Council’s website.
Democratic Services
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW