Agenda item

To consider the report of the Chief Officer Resources.

The report of the Chief Officer Resources was submitted for consideration.

It was noted that the revised Acceptable Usage Policy very much linked to the previous item, Information Security Policy.

At the invitation of the Chair, the Chief Officer Resources spoke briefly to the report and advised that the proposed Acceptable Usage Policy for the Council provided guidance and an overview of the Council’s expectations on the acceptable usage of systems, resources and work spaces.

It was noted that the draft policy would replace the Council’s current policies:-

·        Email Acceptable Use

·        Internet Acceptable Use

The policy would apply to all Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council employees, Schools, volunteers, Members, contractors, third parties and all other authorised users with access to the Council’s information assets and identified the general principles and mandatory controls that were required and applied to all information, hardware devices and data within Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council.

The Chief Officer Resources concluded by advising that the Corporate Overview Scrutiny Committee on 22^nd January, 2021 recommended adoption of the policy.

A Member requested that it be made very clear to all appropriate parties that all information stored or found on Blaenau Gwent devices would be subject to scrutiny by the authority.

The Chief Officer Resources confirmed that all employees and parties to which the policy applied, were provide with the necessary hardware and information assets required to undertake their roles.  Whilst employees were allowed limited use of devices for personal reasons, however, this was not encouraged and individuals should be aware that their use of the Council’s information assets was monitored and audited on a regular basis.

Another Member advised that on occasions, constituents had requested that he use his own personal laptop to send emails in his capacity as a Councillor on their behalf and said that he had to respect this request.  Whist he understood that usage had to be monitored, it would need to be monitored by appropriate officers.  He requested that the Monitoring Officer clarify who the appropriate officers would be to monitor emails.

The Head of Legal and Corporate Compliance (Monitoring Officer) advised that in terms of the policy document, this did not identify/name an appropriate officer but it would be clearly an independent officer of sufficient seniority and who had been authorised and directed by the Managing Director to review the data.  Any audit and monitoring would be undertaken in confidence, in consultation and with the assistance of the SRS.

The Leader of the Labour Group said that this policy referred to the Council’s equipment loaned to Members and employees.  He requested clarity that the use of personal equipment was surely a matter between the Councillor and an individual and that the Council had no control over this.

The Chief Officers Resources pointed out that even though Members may be using personal devices, if there was information that related to Council business or any personal information relating to individuals stored on these devices, Members had a responsibility to ensure that this information remained secure.  Whilst the policy did allude to this, the document specifically related to council equipment.

It was unanimously,

RESOLVED, subject to the foregoing, that the report be accepted and Option 1 be endorsed, namely that the Acceptable Usage Policy be approved.