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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Rooms 10A & 10B - 17th Floor, Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6 QP. View directions

Contact: Mick Steward, Head of Committee and Governance Services  Tel: 7641 3134; Email:  msteward@westminster.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Membership

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services to report any changes to the membership.

Minutes:

1.1     There were no changes to the membership.

2.

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations by members and Officers of the existence and nature of any personal or prejudicial interests in matters on this agenda.

Minutes:

2.1     There were no Declarations of Interest.

3.

Minutes (15.11.16) pdf icon PDF 144 KB

To sign the minutes of the meeting held on 15 November 2016.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 November 2016 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

4.

Governance of IT/Data Protection/FOI in Respect of Members (See Report of the Head of IT) pdf icon PDF 195 KB

Report of the Head of IT.

Minutes:

4.1     Ben Goward (Head of  IT) accompanied by Fatima Zohra (Data Controller)          gave an outline of the report which included a summary of the proposed           governance training for this area.  The aspects to be covered to include:

 

·       Identification of risks, having regard to the role of Councillors as community leaders and local Ward Councillors.

 

·       Outline on how to use technology in view of the Council’s aim to become a paperless organisation.

 

·       The benefits of the 265 software being rolled out to all members as the single available platform.

 

·       Noted that the 365 facility allowed easier compliance with Data Protection Act requirements.

 

·       Data security.

 

·       All aspects of information/data compliance.  It was noted that paper files also came within the scope of Data Protection requirements.

 

·       The duties and responsibilities of Data Controllers.

 

4.2     Generally Members supported the roll out of 365 to all Members and this should be regarded as mandatory in order to obtain Council IT support.  Councillor Adams stressed that the importance of the risk to Data Controllers being emphasised.

 

          It was noted that by having 365 the data would be seen as coming into the Council’s systems.  This would make the Council responsible rather than the Member.  The benefits of 365 were therefore highlighted and emphasised.  The training to also include guidance on the retention and disposal of information.  Officers also outlined how they could improve support to Members with a consistent use of 365.

 

4.3     The Committee supported the introduction of a set of rules, to be launched at the forthcoming training session and the rollout of 365 as the IT offer to all Members.  Members asked that clarification be given to the meaning of Section D in paragraph 3.5.2 of the report.

 

          Resolved: 

 

1.              That the report be endorsed as the basis of the proposed training sessions on Data Protection/FOI/and IT governance subject to the views set out above being reflected.

 

2.            That the Committee note that the proposed training session will be repeated as part of the Induction Programme to be held following the May 2018 City Council elections.

 

3.              That the Committee’s views setting out support of this training, the rollout of 365 to all members be forwarded to the Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Corporate Services.

 

        Actions:

 

1.                Officers (BG/FZ) to make changes to the proposed training programme    to reflect the view of the Committee.

 

2.                Committee Officer to forward Committee’s views to the relevant      Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Corporate Services.

 

3.                Officers (BG) to clarify meaning of Section D in paragraph 3.5.2 of the       report and advise the Committee accordingly.

5.

Annual Review of Members Complaints (See Report of the Director of Law) pdf icon PDF 171 KB

Report of the Monitoring Officer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

5.1     Tasnim Shawkat, Director of Law, introduced the report.  She confirmed that none of the complaints required investigation as a potential breach of the Members Code as they all related to service issues and had been dealt with accordingly.

 

          Resolved:  That the report be noted.

 

 

6.

Member Code of Conduct Training/Member Development Programme (See Report of the Head of Committee and Governance Services) pdf icon PDF 169 KB

Report of the Head of Committee and Governance Services.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

6.1     Tasnim Shawkat, Director of Law, advised that so far 35 members had attended these sessions on the Member Code of Conduct, with others still attending either one-to-one sessions or due to attend the day time session due to be held in April.  The day time session was being held to reflect specific availability and should therefore, once held, result in in 75% of Members having attended a session.  The Committee considered that this would be satisfactory given the timing of the sessions in the electoral cycle.

 

6.2     The content of the sessions was regarded as good and should be reflected in the sessions to be held as part of the 2018 induction programme.

 

6.3     Councillor Ian Adams reported on the recent Policy and Scrutiny training which had attracted only 4 members.  The session had received good feedback on the night and would be included as part of the induction programme.  It was noted that the Policy and Scrutiny training would be discussed further at the next Westminster Scrutiny Commission meeting.

 

          Resolved: 

 

1.          That the report be noted.

 

2.          That it be noted that the Committee is due to review the Member    Development Programme at its next meeting.

7.

Work Programme/Action Tracker (See Report of Head of Committee and Governance Services) pdf icon PDF 125 KB

Report of the Head of Committee and Governance Services.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

7.1     The Committee noted the position, as set out in the report.  Members asked       that a copy of the list of outsides bodies which includes details of the Council’s representative and the length of the appointment be circulated.

 

          Resolved:  That the report be noted and updated to include the actions    agreed at this meeting.

 

          Action:  Officers to update action tracker.

8.

Any Other Business

To receive any other business which the Chairman considers urgent.