Teen beauty spot drinkers are ramblers, not rebels
- Dave Burrows
Shropshire councillors to get iPads at cost of £12,000
Thursday 28th July 2011, 1:40PM BST.
Council chiefs in Shropshire today revealed they will spend £12,000 on new iPads for 40 councillors and some top officers in a new IT pilot scheme.
The move has been taken to make it easier for councillors to be contacted and to make long-term savings, according to Shirehall.
But critics have slammed the spending, claiming many councillors will be unable to use the state-of-the-art tablet computers. They also pointed out members already have taxpayer-funded laptops and BlackBerry smartphones.
Councillor Heather Kidd, member for Chirbury and Worthen, said: “When council services are being cut back and even the low paid are being forced to take a pay cut, it is outrageous that the council administration proposes to blow so much money on items that are un-necessary and see little use.
“What’s worse is I doubt that quite a few councillors will use their new devices.”
She called for the council to abandon the scheme, being trialled by some staff and 40 councillors, including each political leader.
Councillor Martin Taylor-Smith, cabinet member for IT, said: “This will save a significant amount of money over future years and make the council much more flexible to meet the needs of its customers.”
He said working from mobile devices will “drastically reduce” the need for printing reports, saving more than £100,000 a year.
“It’s not just about making savings, it’s about imp-roving and modernising the council’s computer systems, and streamlining our internal processes, so we can provide better value for money.”
Meanwhile, The Grange Day Centre in Harlescott, Shrewsbury, which is used by disabled people, is being closed down tomorrow by Shropshire Council in a bid to save £200,000.
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There was a fantastic spoof on The Onion web site, which concluded with something along the lines of: “It will be interesting to see how this new Apple product will fare in the workplace, where people use computers for actual work and not just d***ing around”.
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Maybe the alarm on them is louder so it will wake them up during council meetings to remind them to get their expenses claim in.
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GREAT!!!!!!!
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So that works out at around £300 per IPad. That’s a pretty good deal when you compare the story today that some Govt. Deptartments spend £3500 on a standard PC.
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Mmmmm £12,000 that would pay for a few months employment for someone. Better in their pocket than on ipads. Be satisfied with the laptops and smartphones you have eh? what a total waste of money.
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Councillor Martin Taylor-Smith, cabinet member for IT, said: “We are trialling the use of iPads with 40 councillors, including each political group leader, and staff. The iPads are replacing laptops and are part of an ongoing plan to consolidate the number of devices used by councillors and staff down to one, so there will be no need to spend money on mobile phones and laptops in the future, it will all be done from one mobile device. This will save a significant amount of money over future years and make the council much more flexible to meet the needs of its customers.
“Working from mobile devices will also drastically reduce the need for printing reports at meetings, which will save more than £100,000 a year. The devices themselves have cost around £12,000, which I believe is a valuable investment to achieve major savings year on year. But it’s not just about making savings – it’s about improving and modernising the council’s computer systems, and streamlining our internal processes, so we can provide better value for money for Shropshire tax-payers. Full training is being offered to each councillor on the use of the iPads, and I hope they will spend the time learning how to make full use of them, which will ultimately help them become more effective and helpful to their electorate. Of course, if any councillor wants to remain using their existing laptop system they can do so.”
The IPads have Skype for cheap calls and are linked to microsoft for email etc.
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“…part of an ongoing plan to consolidate the number of devices used by councillors and staff down to one, so there will be no need to spend money on mobile phones…”
The spectacle of staff whipping out a huge iPad and yelling “HELLO!” at the top of their voice, in a Dom Joly style, is one I personally cannot wait to witness.
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Don’t bother Martin….in the time it takes the Members to learn a completely new operating system ipad (which can’t make phone calls)….oh yes there’s SKYPE um! a totally un-secure system that does not comply with the council’s & govt IT policy…..you will be ousted at the next election…so why waste your time and our money.
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Even the best technology in the world won’t make Councillors “more flexible and helpful to their electorate” if they refuse to listen to what the electorate is saying (which in this case seems to be ‘buying yourself goodies while times are tough isn’t a great idea…’). Accountability is about skills and approach as much as equipment- Councillors don’t need iPads, they need to start thinking about the people they represent and listening to what to what they say.
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How disgraceful for our ( yes he is elected to protect our interests not feather the family nest) cabinet member in charge of IT, and a member of the inner family sanctum that actually runs the Council, even to try to defend the in defendable. A gross miss use of tax payers money on iPads or a good investment to save as he would have us believe? Oh,I know about ipads this comment is sent from one! The IPad is great as a leisure tool, but business hmmm nope! Have a look at the rest of the cheaper and” better for business ” tablets and then realise the laptops issued just 2 years ago can and do do all and more then the iPads. What of the four year business case for those then that may now only last half the contract…will they want the ipad 3 for christmas, surely not, oh yes they will as that’s progress…? If you say you will save on other devices we assume you mean phones, rubbish as you need an extra contract as well as a phone or will you be surrendering the blackberrys I doubt it? And save £100000 how will they save that over what the laptops,… answers on a tablet, please councillor or should we ask the audit authorities to check for you? Leader claims
to have saved three times over cost already. OK, how?So, again what is he claiming is the saving over the tools they already have….none! Now for the detail iPads do not cost £300 each so freedom of information, please the exact cost not a vague around £12000. Training funny as iPads are designed not to need training that is the point of them so what’s that little cost and to whom? Or why when they have laptops. On a day they close disable care centres shame on them shame on you oh elected family!
above savings from laptop he already has os would that upset the
family to ask such a question?
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The training for IPads is less than 15 minutes on average. Training is being delivered through a ‘ teach the teacher ‘ approach and is focused on the rollout of new applications to replace the legacy systems.
We are moving to cloud based systems that do not need ‘heavy lift’ PCs. The planning department found that small screens (less than 10″ ) on phones etc were too small to look at detailed drawings.
Most of the IPads will be obtained by replacing blackberries on our mobile contracts.
Martin
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Angry Birds, Councillor Martin Taylor-Smith? Nope, but you get one angry me.
This is bonkers. Absolutely bonkers. Completely out of touch and SHAME on you for trying to justify it. Wasteful and greedy Councillors. What are you thinking?
There are better, cleverer ways to use your existing technologies than buying 40 iPads. Cloud computing does not require new hardware – in fact they take most of the processing from your hardware, great for lower specc’ed machines. If you feel new hardware is the way forward, I question your IT credentials (and those of your IT staff).
You say “Working from mobile devices will also drastically reduce the need for printing reports at meetings, which will save more than £100,000 a year” but why can’t this be done using your existing laptops – which are absolutely mobile (I have a 6 year old desktop that is still capable of ‘business requirements’ – newer machines are needed for heavy use, gaming and video etc). Your laptops are more than capable of viewing reports, slides and most other business uses. A two year old laptop does not need to be renewed – unless you’ve been visiting websites filtered by BT (pornographic). Your hardware is more than capable, you’re just taking what you can whilst the rest of the population are squeezed.
You also say “if any councillor wants to remain using their existing laptop system they can do so”… since its clearly not essential, may I suggest you stop being flippant with OUR money and keep using your laptops.
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This is such rubbish. Why will it save a penny on printing reports – the equipment they already have makes that unnecessary already.
And linked to microsoft for emails? Why why why? I’m afraid Mr Taylor-Smith sounds like one of those who send their bank details to their Nigerian friends. Clueless.
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Councillor Taylor Smith
When laptops were introduced to Shropshire County Councillors approximately fourteen yaers ago, the promise then was a paperless organisation. But at this time some newly trained Councillors used this cutting edge technology to access Porn Sites.
Will the IPads now provide better access?
STOP WASTING OUR MONEY
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iPads are the same price as microsoft products
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What a waste of money. Hasn’t the Council just signed an IT contract with Microsoft?
What will a Councillor do with an Ipad that can’t be done on a PC or Blackberry? or are the games better?
Oh, and don’t blackberry produce a Windows compatible tablet?
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I am a bit of a “dinosaur” with regard to new technology but I understand that you cannot telephone with an ipad whereas you can phone, email,surf, and find your way about with an Android phone which is substantially cheaper, and easier to cart about . I find a Samsung Galaxy perfectly adequate when away from home and have ditched my relatively bulky netbook.
I am also led to understand [ albeit by the phone salesman ] that nothing comes free from Apple [ which is why I declined an iphone ] whereas Samsung give many APSs free of charge.
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Partly true. Don’t forget that Apples OS is not compatible with Flash enabled Websites (which is only about 97% of them!!!!). Wouldn’t have an Apple device again if you paid me, hideously limiting. Android all the way!
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97%? Please cite your sources
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I think Raymond is right.
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Actually he is wrong. Most websites are moving to HTML 5 and Flash is only to support video and some interactive forms . Not particular useful for Business users.
Also, as a developer for both platforms, I can tell you that Android devices are the most insecure products ever given their reliance on Java. I would certainly NEVER deploy one in my business.
It is true that many corporates are deploying iPads but there has to be a strong business case, even for a pilot. It would be interesting to see what services are being deployed to the iPad and how this fits into an overall IT strategy.
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The smug attitude of this council seems to know no bounds. I know that £12,000 is a relative drop in the ocean, but at a time of cuts to services and pay, to announce the purchase of some useless, shiny, new toys for the priveledged few shows just how uncaring, self-serving and elitist this council really is.
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I work for the council and I agree that this is a waste of money, the laptops and blackberries they have are only two years old, they can do more with the laptops than they can with the ipads.
They should not be able to make such demands!
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it makes my blood boil as a tax payer if i worked there as well i think i would be even more mad with them
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I think that “SC Employee” being on the internet at 1:45pm on a work day is part of the reason why our taxes are so high and why we should not be giving these people more IT we should be taking it away and that will make them really productive
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Ever heard of lunch breaks, Conservative Dan? Or do you think council staff shouldn’t be allowed them?
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My 2 yr old laptop has just broken and my Blackberry has always been a joke so am having a go with Apple. Ntw, I’m not a SC employee
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Expat is right that there are much cheaper alternatives that could do the job better. But even then, they would be spending £1,000s of pounds.
Of course, over time, these devices will save the council a lot of money. PH7 has clearly not used a tablet, or s/he would know exactly why they differ from a normal PC.
In the private sector, iPads are the norm now. If you go into a certain large sofa outlet, for instance, every single member of staff has an iPad, in addition to the computers they actually take you order on. A private company wouldn’t do this if it was a waste of money – they do it because it makes the whole process mroe efficient….why shouldn’t a council be able to save money the same way>
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a private company is funded by customers so let them choose how to waste their money councillors are funded by us, how could an ipad help a councillor more then a phone and a laptop?
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The point is that the rest of the council is microsoft based and windows compatible. These devices will not be without transition software. Private businesses may use forms etc on a tablet but the role of a Councillor does not require this. They have wireless internet, intranet and email via both their blackberries and their laptops. The screens in the Council Chamber can be wirelessly connected to their laptops which come installed with word, powerpoint and excel. There is nothing a tablet can add to the functionality that they already have and it offers nothing which would be of additional benefit in their role. Not only that, if they needed at tablet, which is extremely doubtful, there are now several on the market which are android and windows compatible and which support Macromedia Flash. It is distinctly stupid to issue apple compatible kit when all other IT is Windows compatible.
I’m afraid this is toys for the boys and has little to do with the task in hand. After all, it is not that long ago Councils could be run with pen and paper.
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taxpayers money ——- we wil lhave to pay for them
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Shropshire Councillors are not business executives and nor, I imagine, do they have the workload or IT skills that would necessitate having the latest whizz-bang technological devices.
And, as a matter of principle, while they close schools and day care centres, they shouldn’t be splashing out on flashy gadgets whatever the supposed savings. The same goes for the engraved glass screens in Kim Ryley’s office (I’m sure there’s a sound business case for those too…)
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Do as I say not as I do – what auaterity ? LMFAO ;)
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So why has said Lib Democratic councillor not challenged the outrageous spending on high level consultants at the council at a time when staff are taking cuts and losing jobs?
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A complete waste of money for the councillors and the role they carry out. They have phones, they have laptops, and can make do with them. They get generous enough allowances – let them buy their toys from those!
The fact that this is being done at the same time as their staff are being bullied into takng a pay cut under threat of dismissal makes this doubly disgusting.
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Apple is the epitome of counter cultural monolopy capitalism. You have to buy all their prodicts if you want your iPad or anything i*** to work effectively.
I can’t see why recent laptops and phones have to be replaced so soon.
I worked in the public sector until recently (a university). My employer supplied a desktop and printer. I have a laptop and iPad and other IT items but I paid for them myself because they made/mae my working life more convenient. Btw there were no subsidies or tax write offs.
I bought aniPad simply because I was working in Spain and it was the easist way to get an internet connection in a place which has few wifi places. I’ve not used it since. The old Dell is much better. I suspect thatthe council has opted for ‘style’ over efficiency.
Finally, I’ve just read a feature on the recent increase in muggings and buraries (source – British Crime Survey). The most wanted are iPads and Blacberrys. I would bet that the excess on the counci’s equipment insurance policy is enormous.
Kat
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Schools are closing, Services cut back, times are hard and as expected our useless bumbling councils have shot themsleves in the foot yet again, most of the twerps that they have working there wont know how to use them!!
Pathetic
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Super!
“Retiring West Mercia Police chief says cuts will hurt”
OK Councillors you will have no excuses – you can twitter or wittter or whatever, the main thing is that you are all informed of budget-cut related battle damage!
Interesting thought – costs of 12000 Pounds – who is going to pay the running costs of all the twittering and wittering?
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At a time when front line services and staff are being cut, it is outrageous that money is being spent by Shropshire Council on ipads.
This equipment is an unnecessary waste of money and not compatible with existing equipment. Be ashamed.
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I am suprised by the storey, it seems to miss the bit where is say`s the council is also spending £30,000 to send the coucillours/officers away to be trained how to use these I-pads!!!!
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What is the added functionality of an I Pad to a normal smart phone or lap top???
I would say there is absolutely no benefit or need here, apple i devices are purely for posing and looking good, they are easy to work and fun to use but they arent technically any better than what android, hp, blackberry et al can offer for a fraction of the price
they are literally using public money to pose
this AGAIN shows how little kim ryley knows about PR, he’s embarrasing for the council when workers face pay cuts and cant keep up with the bills, whilst pensioners are struggling to pay council tax, whilst businesses are going bust trying to pay extortionate business rates and whilst pot holes remain unfixed do they really think i pads are a priority!!!
what a bunch of total Bankers!
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i am a big fan of e government and paperless office but i do ask why have a gold plated i pad when a standard smart phone for half the price will do?? what are they doing with these things just email and such, so surely use a normal lap top or smart phone then?
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how would they have contacted them before mobile phones
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to be honest its about time the council invested in some decent it, but i hope they remember the frontline workers and crucially THE CUSTOMERS! the web users and those in the queue for the call centre who could really use some investment in IT too!!!!
Ultimately more IT should improve services and if done well, make them more affordable too so I think this is a good thing but it needs to be rolled out to more and more areas of the council and it needs to focus on investment in practical it uses like online payment, databases which allow different parts of the council to share data and communications between isolated rural parts to reduce the need for people to travel, ie not just a toy for the councillors to use for facebook and email etc.
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Spot on. The IPad rollout part of a move to the use of Miscosoft 360. We have already saved over £1.2 m as part of the move from Lotus notes. The 40 are being tested by a cross section of staff/functions, not just councillors.
Happy to take questions and have a background over 40 years in IT.
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I have to say that in principle, there’s merit in this trial. I’m fully aware of the massive cost savings that can be realised through reducing infrastructure and moving to cloud services. Gartner put the figure as up to 70%, although I think that’s somewhat optimistic.
Personally, I’d get fed up very quickly of trying to type more than a couple of paragraphs on a touch screen, even one as good as the iPad’s, and I’m not averse to using technology. Do you envisage iPad users becoming similarly frustrated?
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The covers we are using with the IPads have inbuilt Bluetooth full keyboards. When open the iPad acts as a screen similar to a laptop.
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When’s yours delivered Martin. Oh, and since when have apple products run on Microsoft operating software?
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I brought my own. Email is linked through Microsoft Exchange as part of the 360 rollout. Ipages allows for updating of word documents etc at a cost of less than £6 against £60 plus for word on a laptop.
The Blackberries are on contract (like your mobile phone) and can be replaced by IPads on similar contracts. Laptops are very much more expensive to run, with the cost of software at least twice the cost of the original PC. The IPads will replace both the laptops and Blackberries and Skype will save us a fortune on phone costs.
Happy to have a debate based on facts.
Ps We saved over £1.2m as part of the Microsoft renegotiation for this rollout!
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£1.2m savings ha about what the west wing over spend refurb cost odd that? Joke if you really want go save and improve why use Microsoft anyway when you can for free use open office all of which does the same as microsoft and sun microsystems update and encourage it’s full use for free as have other local authorities do you MTS know anything at all about IT?
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A few pointers, call it 15 minutes of training.
You need a computer to use an iPad, the only way to transfer documents (without the use of additional apps or cloud computing) is via iTunes. So no saving money on laptops then.
Connecting to a laptop via a usb, non-encrypted and therefore they will not connect to a Shropshire Council pc because of security restrictions.
Yes you can edit using Pages but this is not Word and although they are compatible this is not without issues.
Cloud computing has yet to be proven as secure, I have used Microsofts Skydrive for a couple of years but I would never store sensitive data on there. Ask Sony’s issurers how they feel about internet security.
Skype: only Skype to Skype calls are free.
Bluetooth Keyboard, don’t tell me they come as standard, they can only be sync’ed to one iPad and don’t come cheap. Mr Taylor Smith is not the only person with years of IT experience, Microsoft 365 isn’t there yet. Most people aren’t using the cloud capabilities which Microsoft already offer, why will 365 make a difference?
Yes an iPad is a great tool, if you know how to use and are prepared to put in some effort to adopt a new way of thinking. Not something councillors are particularly renowned for.
Written on my iPad2, replacement for iPad, not using my bluetooth keyboard, bought and rarely used.
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My PC and laptop both have skype and they are windows compatible. My laptop is six years old. It can show movies, presentations, I can write letters and prepare presentations through Microsoft Office. I have wi fi connectivity, email and can download reports and agendas. I am sure the Councillors 2 year old laptops will also do this. As far as I am aware, to get Microsoft operating software to work on an Apple product is problematic to say the least and there are windows compatible and flash compatible tablets on the market. My laptop has vastly more memory than a tablet and is capable of storing far more electronic paperwork.
Oh, and which member of staff other than the Chief Executive and his deputies are going to have access to tablets?
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u can do all that on a normal PC or lap top, with Apple you just pay extra for sex appeal no added functionality, no extra memory, processing power or technical improvement in the specification at all it just looks good
A so called IT professional should know that
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“move from Lotus notes.”
From *what* ????? !!!!!
When you did you move from using an abacus?
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Oh well easy come easy go no matter that many will be freezing this year as they struggle paying Council Tax. Perhaps those expensive blackberries need charging more frequently I thought they were given out in order that councillors could be contacted easier.
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I would like to know if these gadgets can be used by the Councillor’s or their families to play games on, or treated as their own when not being used as an excuse for work. How can we find out?
My family would love an iPad, especially one that we wouldn’t have to pay for.
I will be personally going round to the Council to ask to borrow one for the weekend so that my family can have a gadget to play with at the taxpayer’s expense. Incredulous! How disconnected are these people at Shropshire Council from the real world?
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Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
While not a supporter of this concept I feel it necessary to point out that this is the council that was recently being slammed here for being a bunch of techno-phobe dinosaurs. They can’t win.
As far as using iPads as a phone, there are so many VOIP options now, they can always be in touch.
Hopefully the councils’ IT and Internal Audit departments will be all over these guys to ensure proper use of council equipment – no visiting naughty sites.
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Lets hope they get to download some good tunes and chill these cuts through……
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It will take a lot more than an iPad to make Shropshire Councillors shine. Another outrageous waste of money
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I would seriously doubt if the majority of our councillor’s could set up a recording on a vcr let alone operate cutting edge IT kit such as the iPad. I’d be very interested to learn of the benefits to the council tax payers of Shropshire.
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Can’t work a vcr (do people still have them?) but an iPad is child’s play. It took 5 mins to learn.
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buy a laptop less money but no buy a apple cost twice much and then claim expences on buying appps costing us more money well done keep wasting our hard earned cash on more useless trash.
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LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE
Sounds like waste of our money,but then you can just increase our council tax,and cut more services for the vulnerable.
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I also work for SC and I can tell you that our budget has been cut so much that we now have expensive equipment lying around broken and no money to fix it.
For a fraction of £12000 this equipment could be fixed and put back into service.
I am sure that with the amount of SC people who are loosing/lost their jobs then surely there must be a surplus of IT equipment/ phones etc spare, how about using that up first.
Mike
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I agree with Mike here, I also work for SC and we had a printer which needed repairing or replacing and they said there was no money. We are a frontline service have problems with a fax and just get told there is no money for a new one. SO when you see this money going on ipads its hard to swallow it. I appreicate it may help working towards to a paperless service but look after IT within first.
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In another part of the public sector (university)I had to buy my own laptop,iPad and phone and pay for my cals.
Btw Apple is a classic example of ‘counter cultural’ monopoly capitalism. Their products only properly speak to each other. The council will probably now have to spent much more on Macs!
Kat
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As a parish clerk i have seen the amount of paper generated by printing hard copies of agendas and reports for unitary council meetings. If this move is aimed at reducing this then it was save a lot of money as well as a few trees!
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I find it hard to believe that the only way in which Councillors can save paper is by being provided with iPads. Particularly as they have already been provided with PCs and Blackberries fairly recently.
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As could the laptops they were issued with in 2009.
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I totally think the council should be using more IT but I just question why only the top brass get them whilst frontline workers who really need IT have to make do with slow computers which take 15 minutes just to boot up in the monring and are still using office 2000 for word processing etc!! its typical toryism, they should start and the BOTTOM and work your way up not the top!
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The pilot is with staff as well as councillors. See above press release that was cut down to make a headline!
Martin
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yes but look how it looks!!! think about it! get a PR Manager and think about how other people PERCEIVE things!!
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But you had perfectly adequate laptops while council staff were having to get by with Lotus Notes. Your laptops were perfectly suitable for accessing the cloud and you could still Skype on them with a webcam and microphone (which you should be aware of if you’ve been doing IT for 40 years – or is that a total of 40 years concurrently)? I hope you’ve encrypted your iPads in a suitable way as I don’t want my councillor losing my data on a mobile device. I hoped you’ve looked at the potential data charges for using these devices if they’re being used over the mobile network.
I resent you charging me double council tax and not even considering my request for a second home or single person discount fairly when you are wasting our money on projects like this and are not investing properly in suitable IT for Council staff.
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I don’t see why getting brand new ipads has anything to do with reducing the printing cost. It is very easy to read reports on a laptop because that’s what they were designed for. You could easily save all that money on printing reports and save the cost of buying these new ipdads too. We all know they will be obsolete in a years time when the Ipad 3 comes out.
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agreed a normal laptop is better than an I pad which only has a 9 inch screen, you can do more and see more with a normal laptop so there is no need for Expensive Apple products which arent made in the UK either!
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Another terrible, tactless decision. On one hand, Shropshire Council isn’t prepared to pay for services we need- buses, schools, care for our vulnerable- or to treat its employees decently, and on the other it seems happy to fritter our money on flashy office furnishings and designer trinkets. The Grange day care centre closes today- yesterday the Council announces it’s buying itself iPads- do they think that nobody will notice the appalling priorities they seem to have? If you are in hard times you make the best of what you’ve got, you don’t buy yourself lovely shiny things with other people’s money.
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badly handled from a pr perspective, its not the principle of it, i agree with saving paper but its why get the best devices going instead of budget ones, its like all those Prius electric cars parked outside shire hall, great pool cars to save money and the environment but why have the best money can buy why not just have a small fiat or a smart car (does the same MPG) i think thats what the public expect with these computers they could have got cheaper ones to do the same job i feel
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Some of the old duffers, sorry councillors, don’t know how to operate BlackBerry’s let alone iPads…….should be fun!
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Once again Shropshire Council have scored an own goal, on one hand they trhreaten their staff with the sack if they don’t sign up to a 5.4% cut in salary and T&C’s and the other hand they spend money on the latest toy from Apple, what’s wrong with councillors keeping there existing Laptops and Blackberry’s, after all aren’t we are all in it together, except for the chosen few.
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See above answer to Pf7.
iPads will replace both. Blackberries are on contracts with a mobile phone provider, the IPads can be substituted. This works the same way as when your mobile phone contract comes up for renewal.
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Except that the ipads don’t have mobile phone capabilities so won’t replace the Blackberries, and won’t be compatible with the council’s whiteboards, projectors, printers or network with the rest of the councils IT systems, so won’t replace the laptops either.
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Sorry, the reasons and attempted justifications for having them do not stack up. If they didn’t already have laptop, fair enough, but how does an ipad offer any time saving/cost saving improvement over a laptop? Someone already said it above – toys for the boys. They have no shame and are not accountable to anyone. Dangerous situation.
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Laptops are better than IPAds they have more functionality and more versitilatity than those Apple devices which are just to look good and dont offer much practical stuff and standard laptops or PCs can do all that they can and they also have more RAM / Processing power
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Saying the size of an Ipad is smaller than a Laptop is also a nonsense. My Dad has a notebook PC which is smaller than an Ipad although it is slightly thicker. It cost 1/3 the price of an Ipad and has 100 times the capability.
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What about the poor Shropshire taxpayers? – “Let them eat cake”
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You mean let them eat blackberries!
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IF each member of staff had to justify the use of these devices, and then had to pay for it themselves, and THEN be re-imbursed once its use had been shown to be successful
THEN …
How many devices would we see??
Becuase, put quite simply, if it were that good an idea .. and demonstrated by this menas to be so …there wouldnt be a problem !!!
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OMG these councillors are so out of touch, this is rediculous, do they not have any idea about staff morale and public perceptions? This is another in a long line of PR disasters for the Council, do they have no concept of reputation management? Who is in charge of public engagement and protecting the councils reputation? they should be sacked IMO
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they should be made to buy their own instead, after all they will end up losing or keeping them when they get too old
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i bet is so they can play on facebook init, makes u sik, they is all loaded an tkn the mike init, the lazy overpaid layabouts
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just confirms what i thought then that all the council staff just spend all day on ebay and facebook doing sweet fa whilst earning a fat wage off the back of my taxes
someone needs to take an axe to the council and their lazy workers and councillors who should all be sacked
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Don’t confuse the councillors you voted for with the professionals Woking on pay cuts re grading and soon to be out sourced they are not the same!
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Ann it is councilors who are getting i-pads not council employees, one is a voluntary role with what seems to be getting better and better perks , the other is a role of an employee and i must say with what they are being asked to do ie pay cuts pensions etc i’d be a little miffed on hearing this .
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That is a really ignorant comment Ann!
Council staff are also taxpayers and also don’t want to see their wages, which by the way is not so ‘fat’, wasted on rubbish such as this! And whilst I’m on the subject of council staff, they also pay COUNCIL TAX believe it or not!
I think members of the public forget that it is themselves who vote in the Councillor’s they want to represent the area and it is these Councillor’s who demand and command everyone and everything!
Maybe people should think twice when putting their cross on their ballot paper!
Did you vote?
Thankfully I am an ex-council staff worker as I left partly because I got sick and tired of people with attitudes like yours where we had to endure daily being treated like dirt and I didn’t want to have my to hold my tongue any longer!
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who do they think they are ? Public owned bank managers or something?
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PH7 your talking about a topic which quite honestly you haven’t got the slightest clue….
* M Taylor Smith didn’t say that he was going to convert the pads to Windows, infact you cannot do such a thing… nor would you need to because of a simple word ‘integration’ you don’t need to be running the same OS to be able to get Microsoft servers speaking with iOS devices like the iPad
* I believe if you are using a six year old laptop then you will be experiencing software issues if you are using the latest software… Corporate companies buy volume licensing from Microsoft and upgrade accordingly for support reasons which is extremely important, and so hardware needs to be able to deal with this.
Here is what angle this should be brought into, i work for a large private sector company IT Department, infact one of the biggest private employers in shropshire…
I deal with Microsoft Volume Licencing and while the council will have made savings on the volume licensing this is very unlikely to be linked to a condition they have iPads, infact microsoft would prefer you buy products running their OS.
In relation of the cost of Pages at £6 vs MS Office, yes that is true… but you will still need microsoft office and infact you have already purchased the licences for the existing laptops.
We use netbooks and a few iPads in our business, and yes they are useful but users cannot use the devices for long periods of time as the screen is too small for most users, so when they are using devices for a long period of time then it will just cause eye strain.
I think there is a case for greater integration, but if they already have laptops they can use them in meetings to view documents, and furthermore you will still make the paper savings you commented on earlier.
I work with Government IT Departments, and it is well known that in those sorts of department if you produce a well written document to a bunch of IT illiterate councillors or senior management then they will buy into the idea and you get to play with your shiny toys and server infrastructure.
In fact you don’t need those iPads and the very fact you are pushing them out in the current financial climate sends all the wrong messages out, and to be honest is very typical of the methodology of government IT Departments.
Our private company IT Department attitude with our pressure to make savings as well wouldn’t have even got into conversation about iPads because we knew it wouldn’t have been signed off.
You may read this with contempt of not having an understanding of how your department works, but if you stepped away and thought about it, you will see that buying iPads is poor message to send out for a cash strapped council.
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Many thanks for your post. Feel free to contact me directly, as I am sure we could swap ideas that could help our Council make more progress, for the benefit of all
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I would like to point out that most of the IT team would agree that this is a luxury and not a must have!
They have the same laptops that staff in IT have who will continue to use these for a further three years, at the end of the life span it will be converted to a thin client and will carry on for as long as the hardware lasts.
Please don’t think this has been driven by IT staff it has been a command from above! It can only be a command as they have not considered looking at alternative tablets!
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Abuse of power by the family mafia who actually control the cabinet.They are hell bent on destroying the authority have no original ideas are out of touch with customers, rate payers, employees and have no qualifications to be running a multi million pound operation. Do as I say not as I do, is your mantra not lead from the front! You should all be commended on your true political characters I doubt you would last 1 minute in the real world of service business and employee management, feed your faces, iPad 3 will be out soon and the best by far and that may just have some business use to justify a nice Christmas present!
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Were they not issued with lap tops ? , perfectly adequate . This is a total waste of money and i think questions should now be asked and perhaps an outside agency should be brought it to see if council money is being spent wisely this should be rolled out UK wide . If they wish to have an ipad buy one yourself like we all have to. Councillor’ s are p/t and are voluntary in our community and they are paid an allowance all this needs to be remembered by people who intend to run at the next local elections.
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There is one, it’s called the Audit Comission
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County Councillors are paid £ 12.000 p.a. Town Councillors £3000pa. PLUS allowances for meetings and being members of particular committees. Not bad for these ” part time volunteers” ( now with iPads).
Meanwhile, in the real big society, wage cuts and increase in utilities prices, are preventing people from volunteering as they need extra time for extra paid work.
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Please, please, please stop confusing council EMPLOYEES, that is public service workers with councillors, that is elected members or LAYMEN.
When Taylor Smith says;
[The pilot is with staff as well as councillors. See above press release that was cut down to make a headline!]
He means just those council employees in the higher echelons of power.
No amount of money thrown at councils will produce effective, intelligent,and productive decision makers when it is dominated by a collection of grasping, egotistical free loaders who manipulate our financial coffers for sometimes very dubious reasons.
There are some interesting points being made here with posters with experience and a public interest able to contribute their views. This is something to think about looking at the present expensive and out dated councillor system that is just delivering poor quality decisions using the public purse.
The theatre being the most extraordinary travesty of public expenditure in terms of mainly it’s ridiculous cost, position, design, size and future subsidies required.
Yet we have the football stadium which was a business proposition that has inexpensively expanded it’s horizons albeit unsupported by local councillors to put Shrewsbury truely on the map for entertainment.
It begs the question why not take party politics out of the councillor system altogether.
We cannot afford amateurish decisions with regard to tax payers monies and I for one would prefer to see every councillor elected on the basis of their personal qualities.
This would be better than retirees from the teaching profession, local businessmen propping up their income with now quite lucrative allowances and couples or even families having several members as councillors.
With over £1000 a month paid to every county councillor I cannot see why these now apparently considered vital ipads are not being purchased with the allowance. What else is it for?
Or why the political party funds should not be used.
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Incorrect. The pilot is involving staff at all levels.
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Incorrect I work for shropshire council and no one out of 9 department are trying these in fact no one aT the area office is using these.
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What an absolute joke this is. As an employee of Shropshire Council I cannot see how the chief executive has the nerve to do this at a time when we (the lower paid) are all facing imposed paycuts and loss of flexible working etc! The council has become a joke and not a pleasant place to work. Mr Ryley what a class way to gain the trust and respect from all of your employees! You may say this is another cost cutting exercise but what a load of rubbish! Was the £90k refurb of offices a saving (I think not! ) the rest of us have to put up with slow and third hand computers, tatty desks and offices but as long as you and your chums are ok! I think you need to sit back and rethink your strategies before losing all your good, committed, loyal and hardworking employees. I feel very sorry for the Shropshire residents because they will be getting a worse service due to disgruntled employees!
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over piad out of touch unrepresentative parasites
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calls on skype, email, not printing, reading reports
wait a minute
i can do all that from my £309 laptop…
next step replace all the bin lorrys with mercedes then get gaggia coffee machines in shirehall to replace all the vending machines and then get some of those massage chairs for the bosses to reduce stress and make them more efficient and then they will all start having lunch in the Savoy with Kim Ryley because its more efficient that taking in your sandwiches
its just gold plating things in a way you would not do if it was your own money being spent
us and them – they are totally not getting it
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its disgusting when peopleare loosing their jobs over this
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you just dont get it do you mr smith? we are all going without holidays and not replacing clothes and even going without food and my kids are going to have to be doing without xmas presents, but you’re getting new I pads. I cant afford them an I pad for their Xmas stocking thats why it annoys so much.
this is exactly like a microcosm of what is happening at a national level where millionare tories are making cuts which they dont feel, you look at the tory cabinet in shropshire, barrow, taylor-smith etc they are all loaded, they dont feel it when taxes go up and wages go down, they would only notice if the price or cigars and port increases
they are living on another planet
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C’mon. iPads are not expensive. They just are branded as such. I’m unemployed/ very early retired (40s) but pay band G council tax and am happy to do s
Kat x
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they are all as bad as each other the staff, the councillors, the chief executive, the mp’s, the mandarins, the diplomats and especially the unions, they are all on the take, with our taxes, what we need in this country is a kind of TEA Party movement
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‘Especially the unions’ – eh?
It’s not the unions who have decided to issue these councillors with Ipads when their existing IT equipment will do – it’s a Tory council administration who have made that stupid and insensitive decision.
The unions and their members are simply putting up a fight against the illegal plans to dismiss them without compensation and force them to accept lower pay and conditions of employment under duress – good luck to the unions I say – if only a few more people were willing to stand up against such bullying.
As for the ‘Tea Party’ – have you actually looked at this group in the US? Most of them are so stupid that they actually believe the Earth to be just 5,000 years old! Do you really want people who are that foolish running things in this country?
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We need some kind of Tea Party movement do we? Would that be the same kind of Tea party which is doing its best to bankrupt America then? What a clueless individual you must be.
And where’s your evidence that council staff are on the take? Of course you haven’t any – it’s just a made up fantasy that exists in your own mind.
Kindly return to your bridge with the rest of the trolls.
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maybe they live in a bubble? maybe they should use their new toys to surf the web and “crowdsurf” this idea on twitter, i reckon if this page is anything to go by it would show them what real working people think about their indulgences
just no concept of public perception
we’re all in this together yeah right except were starving and their ordering cavier via their new i pads thinking “let them eat cake”
muppets
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idiots
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the council certainly needs to be more efficient but in my view the best way to do that is to cut taxes and cut staff pay espeically the over paid managers and cheif executive grades, i dont think IT improves things though I say go back to pen and paper its much better and never gets left on a train for the daily telegraph!!! I think the “paperless office” is a myth, ever since computers came along, printing paper sales have skyrocketed, computers just cause problems and slow things down, we need to get back to basics, back to the good old days, and keep it simple, also of course it would stop lazy public sector layabouts surfing the net all day and playing solitaire on their machines when they ought ot be working!!
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Come on then Dan, let’s see your proof that public sector workers are surfing the net all day. Surely you wouldn’t post such an accusation without evidence to back it up would you?
Oh wait, if your earlier comment is anything to go by then you’re clearly not one to allow fact to get in the way of a good rant. Back to the bottom of the class dear boy, and go and join Barry Zane in the lair of the terminally clueless.
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Can’t wait for mine to arrive. I love tweeting and surfing and gaming and Youtube. Have you seen one of my latest tweets where I ask council workers what the plans are in case of a zombie invasion?? Life’s a joy… Thank you council taxpayers for life’s little treats.
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At a time when Shropshire Council workers are being treated with the utmost lack of respect and services will be outsourced to the cheapest bidder in the name of ideological Tory cutbacks, this action is absolutely disgraceful. Shropshire Council taxpayers, please vote this lot out next time round.
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clearly these councillors dont understand the current financial plight of the nation, might I suggest they reverse the 100% payrise they awarded themselves on the creation of the new unitary authority and perhaps take a 6% paycut like the rest of the social workers, teaching assistants, bin men, librarians and toilet cleaners are being expected to, then perhaps they would appreciate why its insensitive and unfair to treat themselves to a smart phone whilst mere mortals on the frontline are expected to try and get their job done with outdated equipment and security restrictions which prevent them sending files above 10 Mb!
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waitaminute
surely we should be applauding the council for saving money?
in my business if you invested 12k and got 100 k saving I would say WELL DONE!
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Ipads are just posh touch screen laptops right?
Im no IT expert but for 40odd years living on this planet using phones and a bit of email etc I dont think that they dont do anthing a normal cheap laptop cant
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u r correct will
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Their more like a large mobile phone or PDA. They have nowhere near the usefulness or capacity of a budget laptop.
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“like a large mobile phone ”
well, apart from not being able to make or receive phone-calls …
Skype, of course, but you don’t need an iPad for that. I think they are great, and when the next couple of versions come out and the kinks are ironed out I may well treat myself – but I wouldn’t try and use it to replace both a decent phone *and* a laptop.
I know someone who has one and uses it a lot – for web surfing anywhere, email, games, social media, ebooks etc. – but he can afford it and it’s no use for his work.
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Sorry, I meant that they use app software as opposed to standard computer software. Skype is a non secure telephony method which can be used via an ipad but equally can be used via any PC including the laptops issued to councillors in 2009. I suspect that the operating software on these is a pretty up to date version of windows compatible with cloud computing.
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The thing with a blackberry or I Pod is that they only even AUGMENT a PC they wont completely replace it because you cant sit down for 5 hours and write a whole document on a touch screen with a small screen
i am amazed the numerous health and safety experts in the council have not reaised the issue of RSI yet, these ipads will be wasted they dont do anything that a laptop couldnt, they add not a jot of extra anything
laptops / pcs will still be needed
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That’s the beauty of manipulating figures, they always work out!
Councillors are not employees and had an unwarranted 100% increase in allowances when we went unitary.
They should pay for these iPads out of that instead of purchasing a new car for example.
OR find the money from their respective political party funds.
Employees of the council no doubt have strict restrictions on use and ownership of equipment used for work.
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Councillors are subject to the same restrictions and also should not use them for political purposes. They sign a form confirming this when they are issued with equipment.
It is clearly understood, and is one of the reasons I brought my own Ipad.
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To be honest with you, I’m completely disgusted at this.
Id like to know the reason … the justification of this expense for something as stupid as a glorified iTouch.
“Councillor Martin Taylor-Smith, cabinet member for IT, said: “This will save a significant amount of money over future years and make the council much more flexible to meet the needs of its customers.”
He said working from mobile devices will “drastically reduce” the need for printing reports, saving more than £100,000 a year.
“It’s not just about making savings, it’s about imp-roving and modernising the council’s computer systems, and streamlining our internal processes, so we can provide better value for money.”
These are NOT genuine reasons to be spending this amount of money on something which…to be fair was primarily made for moves, music and entertainment.
They will only be a proper ‘mobile device’ if they get the 3G versions, adding yet more to the cost.
Everything they are saying they are getting the iPads for can easily be done with a laptop. Have they not heard of Email for sending reports? Or file sharing through google docs?
They can improve their computer systems by simply upgrading their OS and using the right programs. This will last longer than the iPad; which needs a computer to work anyway!
The iPad was released around 9 months ago, and already there is an iPad 2, and iPad 3 in the pipeline. This isn’t a way to save money when its being replaced already.
It sickens me that the council are making cuts left right and centre to try and save money. They are closing centres that help many people. They are making people worse off, cutting jobs, and effecting the lives of hundreds of people. Yet they find the money to get pieces of tech that will end up sitting in a draw or just be used by the council workers children.
If they really want to save money, and not just want to be seen as ‘up to date’, they should concentrate on what they already have, and improve that way. Its possible to do if you have a brain and think about it.
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They are the 3G versions, hence the mobile phone contracts.
There are always new technologies round the corner. The key technologies that the Ipads
bring to the equation are:
- Easy of use and conectivity.
- GPS and cameras built in.
- Large number of cheap applications.
- Off the shelf technology that is compatable with one of the most widely used phones.
- Lower ongoing application and support costs.
We will be using Ipads mainly with front line staff. For example one of our dog wardens is trailing one. PCs still have a roll for ‘heavy lift’ applications is the back office functions.
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Who is going to pay for the apps, I not sure what a Councillor is going to to with global positional satellite data as opposed to say, a map, oh, and don’t they represent a small geographic area. Ipad cameras are notoriously bad, worse than the cameras in most mobile phones (which can make video calls). Not everyone has an iphone, in fact most people don’t.
If this is the level of IT expertise I would’t buy a calculator from you. Oh, and my experience with IT contracts is that massive savings are promised up front, many of which fail to materialise due to increasing maintenance and upgrade costs.
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Will the councillors really be more efficient with and iPad rather than a mobile phone and a laptop?
Where will the £100k of claimed savings be re-invested?
What is the worst that could happen if they dont get iPads?
This is no more than toys for the boys for Kym and the chosen few councillors in his top floor gang who need to remember we pay their wages, expenses and perks and who should not be suprised when they are voted out at the next election – It is our money you are squandering on your ‘must have’ toys
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And another thing…why do Shropshire councillors cost more than Telford & Wrekin’s??? £2.91 per resident as opposed to £2.52. If they were paid on the same scale as Telford & Wrekin’s, Shropshire’s council taxpayers would save £571,000 over 5 years. Now that’s a FAIR cut.
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Bunch Of Baffoons
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lions led by lambs
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shropshire people need to get with the 21st century, 12k is Sweet FA when the council spends over £600,000 every year, if you want third world services then dont invest in I|t but if you want to access your council online or get a response to your complaint via email in 24 hrs then you have to expect them to have a budget for it and it may as well be half decent kit, for god sake im not rich and yet i would probably spend £300 on a phone, so for a phone come laptop / tablet its not too much to ask really is it?
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If you spend £300 on a phone you must have more money than sense.
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But just you remember pleb “were all in this together” although i think some people are more in it than others
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I’m just waiting for the furore when somebody loses a load of sensitive data on one of these ipads (or it’s hacked somewhere in the cloud) or the Council’s brought to a grinding halt because their internet connection’s gone down and nobody can access Office 365!
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Its true RG – I pads are not secure, nor is Skype, there is too much risk aversion in local government normally but this is too far the other way its irresponsible with public and priveleged data
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Printed paper is a much higher risk!
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Another really stupid, ill informed comment. keep it up counsillor, you’re building up quite a collection here !!
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Councillors are subject to the same restrictions and also should not use them for political purposes. They sign a form confirming this when they are issued with equipment.
Typiical misleading reply Mr Taylor-Smith.
I did not say anything about the iPads being used for political purposes and how you would define that I have no idea.
I clearly said that the already inflated allowances received by councillors should be used to try out new toys or the specific party funds of the councillor be used to pay for them.
What this council seems less keen to invest in is more transparency. There are other councils putting committee meetings on the internet for example. Bringing our views into what has been decided behind closed doors with no proper opportunity for our views to be really considered, just rants on a web page, is not democracy.
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Everyone stop whining – Afterall you voted for this lot!
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Aha! Someone’s awake!
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well the council likes Apple product they have Ipads, I-phones, I-macs and treat all the council tax payers as I-diots
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