Issue - meetings

The Head of Information Management attended the meeting to provide the Committee with an update on GDPR complaint storage, processing and disposal of information.

Noting that Part 2 agendas were posted to Co-opted Members, Dr Davey suggested that consideration should be given to sending any documents that may contain confidential personal information by recorded delivery.  In response the Director of Corporate Services confirmed that recorded delivery could be considered for the small number of Part 2 agendas that were posted to co-opted members, however it had to be recognised that the expectation in the United Kingdom remain that the postal service across the Country was secure and there were severe penalties in place for third parties that tampered with post.  Across the Council the presumption was that ordinary post would be used however there were exceptions to this for specific reasons and exempt information could be one such exception. 

A Member also suggested that further consideration should be given to delivering agendas via electronic means such as Egress Switch.

The Head of Information Management explained that plans were in place for Bromley to become a digital Council.  Plans were being made to move to a Cloud based system which would enable better remote working with strict systematic controls in place for accessing information.  This would enable the Council to retain better organisational control of data.

The Chairman noted that whilst there could be strict systematic controls in place for electronic data these robust rules and practices tended to break down when paper was used.  Consequently the Standards Committee discussed how the Council could enforce a policy of paperless working.  Members noted that in order to introduce and enforce paperless working the infrastructure would need to be in place to support end to end processes and there would need to be cultural change amongst both Members and Officers across the Council.

In relation to Committee papers, the Director of Corporate Services explained that a number of the rules for committee papers originated in the 1970s and 1980s and consequently did not take account of more modern methods of disseminating information.  In the case of the summons for meetings of the Full Council, there remained a statutory obligation to deliver a paper summons.

Dr Davey also suggested that it would be helpful to review the governance statements applicable to co-opted members and for the Director of Corporate Services, on behalf of the Council , to seek reassurance that co-opted members on committees were complying with the rules and requirements around data protection and data security.

It was agreed that the Director of Corporate Services should discuss with the Head of Information Management how to take this forward.

The following Members indicated that they would not require paper agendas for future meetings

Councillor Will Harmer

Councillor Stephen Wells

Councillor Melanie Stevens

Dr Simon Davey.

RESOLVED: That the update be noted.