Issue - meetings

The Chief Officer (Governance) introduced the report on information sharing within the Council.  At the Committee meeting in November it had been agreed that a working group would be established to draw up fresh guidance on how to share information within the Council.

The working group, chaired by Councillor Marion Bateman, met twice in December 2017 and drew up draft guidelines which had been shared with officers and Members in consultation.  The results of that work were a set of principles relating to how and when the Council would share information in its internal communications.  If approved by County Council the guidelines would be inserted into the Constitution.

At the working group meetings a number of principles were approved.  A number of scenarios were also considered which looked at sharing information from a number of different perspectives such as a Councillor speaking to an officer, a Councillor speaking to another Councillor or a Councillor speaking to a constituent. 

The principles and examples were then subject to consultation with officers and an all Member workshop.  The principles were broadly supported during the process through a few improvements were made and the final document was appended to the report.

The Chief Officer reinforced the importance of what information could be shared and provided details of consequences that could be faced from under or over sharing information.  The report would be submitted to County Council on 1^st May 2018.

The Chief Executive thanked everybody who had been involved in the process for their contributions and said that as well as the principles being included in the Constitution, they would also be disseminated amongst officers so that they were properly understood.

Councillor Heesom thanked the Chief Officer for the report which was welcomed.  The Chief Officer added thanks to the Democratic Services Manager and the Information Governance Manager for their contributions.  Councillor Bateman also expressed her thanks, as Chair of the working group, to the officers for their advice and the Members for their contributions.

Councillor Williams said the process should not end at this point and further discussions should take place with officers on the decision making process.  The Chief Officer responded that proactivity was an important point.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the guidelines be recommended to County Council for adoption into the Constitution; and

(b)       That the members of the working group be thanked for their work.