Agenda item

Information Management and Governance Arrangements

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Blamire)

Joint Report of Chief Officer (Resources) & Chief Officer (Governance)

Minutes:

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Blamire)

Cabinet received a joint report from the Chief Officer (Governance) and the Chief Officer (Resources) which sought confirmation of Cabinet’s approval for strengthening the Council’s information management and governance arrangements.

The options, options analysis, including risk assessment and officer preferred option, were set out in the report as follows:

Option 1 – Confirm Officer proposals (the original proposal)

The proposal involves an increase in the establishment of one post. Allowing for overheads, at maximum the annual cost would be approaching £40k per annum. In the current financial year, 2015/16, costs may be in the region of £15k, depending on the recruitment process. These costs can be met from within the £120K budget approved for ICT security and Public Services Network (PSN) compliance in February 2014.

Should Cabinet confirm support for the proposal, a report will be presented to Personnel Committee seeking approval for establishing the posts. It is proposed that managerial responsibility for Information Governance would transfer to Internal Audit.

In the opinion of officers, the two proposed posts will provide the necessary knowledge and capacity to meet the information governance development needs as outlined in paragraph 2.4 as well as the capacity to deal with the information requests being received by the Council. As mentioned, expectations for the future are such that resources will be required not just in the immediate term, to address the gaps identified and raise standards to an acceptable level, but also to maintain those standards into the future.

Option 2 – Do not confirm Officer proposals.

	Option 1 – Confirm approval for Officer proposals to develop functions as proposed	Option 2- Do not confirm proposals.
Advantages	Enable and support better service provision through development of corporate policies, procedures and standards of information governance Enable exploration of options for better use and sharing of information Provision of greater assurance regarding information management and security; reduce the risks of inappropriate disclosure and any associated penalties	No additional costs involved
Disadvantages	Costs associated with additional resources (although these are already budgeted for)	Further delays in improving service areas. Inability to develop standards and respond to future development challenges in the interim. Unable to provide assurance regarding the security and effective management/use of information. No suitable alternatives identified to date.
Risks	Inability to recruit the requisite resources	Increasing risk of information security incidents and associated penalties/adverse publicity Inability to respond to change and to take advantage of opportunities for better information sharing arrangements Risk of wasting time and resources, with no prospect of identifying a better solution for the medium term.

Option 1 is preferred. Dedicated resources are required to provide the expertise, capacity, and guidance necessary to enable the Council to fulfil its information governance responsibilities.

Councillor Clifford proposed, seconded by Councillor Leytham:-

“That the recommendation, as set out in the report, be approved.”

Councillors then voted:-

Resolved unanimously:

(1) That Cabinet confirms its approval for the development of the corporate information governance function, as outlined in the report attached to the agenda, to be financed from within existing budgets.

Officers responsible for effecting the decision:

Chief Officer (Governance)

Chief Officer (Resources)

Reasons for making the decision:

A key element in ensuring the successful delivery of the Corporate Plan is to have sound governance arrangements in place. Whilst this is a service area which may not necessarily be visible to and appreciated directly by the public, it is essential for sound governance and to support effective service delivery and the safeguarding of resources. The decision also fits with the Council’s ethos.

Supporting documents: