Can the clerk refuse to send emails to a Councillor private email address?

Question

Our parish council has recently appointed a new clerk. The clerk maintains that all councillors should use .gov email addresses. One of our councillors presently does not want another email address (for a perfectly valid reason) on his computer and refuses to install .gov address. As a consequence the clerk refuses to communicate by email with him , posting agendas and minutes but not informing him of contents of emails sent to other councillors. The councillor feels that he is being denied his right to represent parishioners, is being marginalized with council business.

Nowhere can he find any legislation which states that a councillor cannot use their own email address, nor that a clerk can refuse to communicate if a .gov email is not used.

Clarification would be appreciated.

Answer 1

The Joint Panel on Accountability and Governance (March 2023) strongly recommends that councils should provide official email accounts for councillors and staff to comply with GDPR and whilst this is a recommendation rather than a statutory requirement, the recommendation ensures a natural segregation between work and personal lives making it clear beyond doubt in what capacity a councillor is acting.  It also provides a level of professionalism and in the event of a Freedom of Information request, limits access to personal computers.  This year, Internal Auditors following the JPAG guide for internal audit are flagging non compliance as a potential issue with GDPR.
However, as noted, it is a recommendation and not yet a statutory requirement so arguably it is within the realm of the council as to whether to require that council email addresses are exclusively used.  I'd suggest checking back to see if such a resolution has been agreed.  
There is also a small point that generally, councillors should give explicit consent to be contacted via email and for papers for meetings etc. to be served via email.  If no consent has been given, your clerk should be sending all correspondence via snail mail, which is not helpful either given the recent postal strikes.

Comments

If the system is similar to ours the reluctant councillor can access emails via webmail - so no need to install the email address. Personally, I use a old laptop to receive only council emails to limit any problems with GDPR, and having it mixed up with any other of my devices.

---

The response from DBW is one the best I have seen on here.

---

Many thanks for your informative response.

---

Could you forward the JPAG https please, greatly appreciated.

---

If you are looking for a link, a quick google found this??
https://www.nalc.gov.uk/library/our-work/jpag/3859-practitioners-guide-2023/file

---

Thank you, unable to convince fellow councillors of the immediacy of compliance, only time will tell.

Answer 2

I think the Clerk is perfectly correct and that Councillor should consider their position and stop showboating about such a minor issue

Comments

It would seem the clerk is out of order ceasing communication with the councillor.

---

Agree Jules.. In the "real world" trying to imagine company reaction to me saying "no I wont use company provided email just send it to my G Mail". I'd be laughed out building.. (best case scenario...)  Do we think in 2023 its acceptable to to be using personal email to conduct business... We need audit trails and need to be able to manage councils digital footprint in 2023... When a Cllr ceases membership etc for whatever reason becomes important.

Answer 3

Not only is it mentioned in the JPAG guidance it’s also covered sort off under GDPR

By using his own email address he becomes a data controller, rather than the Council being the data controller and all that entails. He also has to ensure that all the Council information held within his email providers server is held in the UK, Europe or in countries on the adequate countries list, otherwise come next year he has to arrange an international data agreement.
It’s key under GDPR the Council has control  of where its data is stored. I am even amending my BYOD policy to state that Cllrs can’t email information from their gov.uk email address to their personal ones to ensure the Council is covered if there is a data breach

If the Cllrs emails are hacked how will that reflect on the PC? How would he, as data controller manage that breach?
Personally I think the Clerk is right here

Answer 4

We had with our PC, where one Cllr refused to use our .gov email address, and demanded everything be sent to his personal email.  He even signed a disclaimer to that effect, including a warning that should a FOI request come in, he may have to hand over all his emails, including personal ones.  We sought advice from the ICO over the wording to make sure that we were correct on that one.

Winding on about 18 months, and we were subject to a rather nasty FOI.  We tried to resist, but the ICO strongly implied that we had to comply, and if we didn't, they would rule against use.  We were also informed in no uncertain terms that would and did include all his personal emails, in case he was trying to hide something: the fact that he was using his personal email address the complainant informed the ICO of!

Wind on about 18 months and a couple of hours.....and he resigned to stop this.

As a result any and all new councillors have to use the .gov.uk one, either via outlook or webmail, or receive all material via snail mail (or may collect in person from the Clerk).