How Would You Think Different ? Council To Plug £30mil Hole
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Posts
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MAGgy;4576 wrote:It doesn’t have to go through Sell2Wales if they used the GPS
I was always under the impression that the GPS feeds in to selltowales via the old OGC Buying Solutions set up..
Has it changed?
@MAGgy 4549 wrote:
Has anyone checked how much the iPads cost?
If they are part of their mobile technology contract they will get a very advantageous price and could even get them free of charge as other authorise have£342 was quoted to replace Neil Rogers’ iPad after he drop-kicked it. Same article quoted total costs of £23,000.
thewayneinspain;4583 wrote:Out of interest how does claiming back vat work with councils?why i asked this question…
because 52 x 342 doesn’t add up to 23k
342 into 23k makes 67.. so where have the other 15 ipads gone? Although according to the councillors I spoke al least 17 ipads missing as two aren’t having them.
@thewayneinspain 4584 wrote:
why i asked this question…
because 52 x 342 doesn’t add up to 23k
342 into 23k makes 67.. so where have the other 15 ipads gone? Although according to the councillors I spoke al least 17 ipads missing as two aren’t having them.
Snippet from the link Rob posted
Further iPads will be purchased and stored just incase of problems with the issued ones, or if a member forgets his or her iPad.
Would expect 3 or 4 kept as spares but if the sums are correct, that is a bit excessive to say the least.
17 extra ipads would pay for 1 kerbcraft member of staff until the end of the summer term (just under 6k)
@thewayneinspain 4594 wrote:
17 extra ipads would pay for 1 kerbcraft member of staff until the end of the summer term (just under 6k)
I couldn’t possibly comment on that :D :D :D :D
Hi all, this is my first post so be gentle!
I often browse the forum, but am not very social so don’t post. This time is different, as the subject of many of the posts was making my blood boil! I, like many of you, were thinking how dare they (councillors) get these devices for free when all other useful services (like kerbcraft mentioned on the forum) are under threat or are cut, and when everyone else has to buy them!
The post from the wayneinspain tipped me over the edge – your posts do tend to get me all het up ;) -regarding an extra 17 iPads that might have been bought. I was thinking, “Who else has got one? They’ve all got their noses in the trough!”………have another pint, calm down a bit……..read a bit more of the forum and feel the rage build up again!
So, I decided to get on the Wrexham website and trawl through for some information – and trawl through I did! That website is not the easiest to navigate to get what you would think to be some easily accessible information. Who did they employ to create that monstrosity, a blind Bulgarian bricklayer?!? Anyway, I digress!
I finally came across this beauty:
https://www.wrexham.gov.uk/MinutesData/DemServs/Reports/HCCS13812.pdf
Which looks like the report original report presented to one of the committees for the “Review of ICT Provision for Elected Members”.
Now, I know that the figures bounded about were the back of the fag packet stuff using figures from the mis-leader – Wayne’s words not mine ;). But, this may be the drink talking, some of this made sense! No, seriously hear me out! I’m not taking the piss honestly!
In the report, they quote that in 2011/2012 £36,000 was spent on printing of agendas and minutes for committee meetings for Elected Members and Senior Managers (don’t worry not typing all this in, copy and paste stuff). £36k, thirty six grand! WTF! The councillors also had (6 year old) laptops provided, with possible on costs being hinted at – I work in the Computing field and would assume that this is for licensing f products (Windows CAL licences, software assurance, security products etc). In addition, £4,320 per annum was spent on providing broadband for 24 members.
So, in total over £40k a YEAR for councillors to get emails and printed agendas!
The report looks to offer councillors one of three options, four if you’re a lead member by the look of it, and the implicit fifth (non of the above).
1. An iPad @ £431 plus £20 per annum.
2. A laptop @ £453 plus £50 per annum.
3. Use your own mobile device with provided software @ £125 plus £20 per annum.
4. (for lead members only) instead of option 1, a 3g iPad.
Right, so got the figures. £431, seems expensive for an iPad! But, included in the price is a case and stylus and a “Secure Email Software” called Good @ £125 – that got me curious, what is Good? More later ;)
So the breakdown is:
Total of £431 – £125 = £306 for an iPad, case and stylus! I would think that £20 is about right for a case and stylus, so the iPad costs around £286ish. That’s not a bad price for an iPad, I would hazard a guess and think that they are probably iPad2 16Gb (WiFi only), so lowest of the range last year.
@Rob, you’ve seen one of these devices, is that right?
So, WTF is Good? After asking Google, I came across this:
Good Technology
It seems like a software version of Blackberry that allows you to lock/wipe the device if lost – sensible I suppose, imagine if Neil Rogers would have lost it instead of dropped it, there might be sensitive information on it.
So, at £431 for 57 councillors is £24,567 minus the 2 who didn’t have them is £23,705.
What’s interesting is by taking the broadband of those 24 members pays for these devices over a 5 year term. So any savings in printing is additional – hopefully earmarked for kerbcraft ;) Although with this lot I wouldn’t hold your breath!
The big question is really should the members be paying for these devices out of their allowances! But that’s for a different topic – I need another beer!JJ, love the post. Anyone who gives stats and info is fab.
next year printing costs will be interesting because I think we will see a combination of wxm council (as a whole…) and ipads depreciation go up. Because Ipads are ace, tablets are ace, but humans aren’t at a stage in their evolution development when they only need ipads.
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