Here's how it could cost Glasgow City Council £25,000 to meet up digitally throughout pandemic

Emergency decision-making arrangements were put in place by Glasgow City Council to aid the response to the coronavirus pandemic, with most meetings suspended.

The full City Administration Committee will meet for the first time since March 12 on Thursday and is asked to agree to the restart of the Finance and Audit and the Operational Performance and Delivery Scrutiny (OPDS) Committees.

Council officers are also looking at two options for holding Full Council meetings – via Microsoft Teams Live Events or Public-I, the authority's current webcast provider.

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A report to councillors reveals the costs of a digital solution could be between £20,000 and £25,000.

"Being able to hold Full Council meetings remotely is not part of our current contracts with CGI/Microsoft, so there will be additional costs," it states.

"The costs for a digital solution for Full Council are still being worked through, but are anticipated to be around £20,000-£25,000."

A digital solution could be available by the week beginning June 29 but: "This timetable is, however, ambitious and may not be achieved."

It would "require all available resources being directed to the project" and would mean delays to the roll-out of Microsoft Teams and to the Connected Learning project, which includes work on blended learning for schools.

Council officers believe these projects should remain the "priority focus".

"This will give all elected members digital connectivity, allow the returning committees to meet before the end of June, and give the necessary time for the selected product to support Full Council to be fully checked and tested," the report concludes.

The two scrutiny committees are set to meet before the council goes into recess in July.

The OPDS will focus on the council's response and recovery, including education, sustainability, the economy and health/care. Financial performance, including the impact of Covid-19, will be monitored by the audit committee.

Both are planned for June 17, via Microsoft Teams, but it is possible one will be moved.

The Planning Applications Committee could resume once all members have downloaded Microsoft Teams and received training. The next meeting is scheduled for June 16.

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However, there is an issue with the volume of paperwork required for the Planning Local Review Committee and the resumption is "dependent on there being a way of remotely managing this".

For Licensing Committee meetings to restart, the applicants would also need to have digital access as well as third parties, such as Police Scotland.

The report states: "There may be options as to how this could be extended to applicants who do not have access to the appropriate software, but this will take some more time to develop."

All licences due to expire at the end of March, April and June were automatically extended by three months to avoid the need for renewal applications. This has now been extended by a further month.