Access to emails

Question

Good afternoon,

Following a SAR request from 1 of our parish councillors, who is also a district councillor all the staff and other councillors have refused to use their own digital devices. After a full council meeting it was agreed to purchase phones for the councillors and staff.

We have updated our IT policy and included that no outside digital equipment would be allowed to access the councils one drive or email system. This policy change was approved at a full council meeting.

At the meeting the mother of the councillor who requested the SAR, who is also a councillor throw a council mobile phone at the chair of the council which has been reported and being investigated by the police. She also would not allow her daughter to take their council phone home.

The daughter who as I said is also a district councillor now uses her district councils issued iPad to access the parish councils network and email system.

Can the parish council enforce the amendment not allowing non parish digital equipment to access the network and email system?

Answer 1

Why does a district councillor need to access the parish council's network and email system? A district councillor is a member of the public as far as parish council business is concerned.

Comments

They said that they were also a parish councillor.

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Sorry, didn't read it properly.

Answer 2

Local councils may make whatever rules they wish in respect of the conduct of their business, as long as the normal democratic process is followed. Whether they have genuine power to enforce these rules in all cases is debatable, although in this case, access could be denied, with the requirement to serve papers being met by other means. But what is the real issue here? It is not normal for a member of the council to submit a subject access request, so why did it happen? Why is a district and parish councillor relying on her mother to defend her in meetings? Does mum perform the same role at district meetings? You could submit a code of conduct complaint against the councillor for not following the agreed policy, but I pity the poor monitoring officers who have to investigate such matters. From what you have said, this bears all the hallmarks of a simple breakdown in the relationship between a council and one of its councillors, in which case building bridges might benefit the council more than point scoring.

Finally, staff should not be expected to use their own devices. An employer should provide an employee with the tools of the trade.

Comments

Thank you for replying.
There is a big issue, the councillor and mother have spent the last 18 months trying to get the clerk sacked. It all started when one of the ordered the clerk to pay a supplier early. They were in a relationship with the supplier. The request was rightfully declined as all our payments, after being checked go to full council for approval.
They both at every council meeting try to allege wrong doing, which after a full audit proves nothing wrong. On top of this they have both sent in FOI requests, always abstain at meetings and the one who is also a district councillor always reports on Facebook and local press anything that is discussed in closed session.
They managed to get the previous clerk to leave with a very large payoff.
Numerous complaints have been sent to the monitoring office but on average they take at least 2 years before they make a recommendation. The public won’t join the council because of the toxic atmosphere and want them both out.

There is more but I don’t want to make the question a book of issues.

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Is the mother also a member of the Council? When they allege wrongdoing, the Chair should ask them to clarify which rules have been broken, by reference to the standing orders and financial regulations, or other policies. If they can't be specific, ignore it and move on. If they're moaning about issues not relevant to the meeting, they should be addressed afterwards.

FOI legislation is not the catch-all people expect it to be. The Council has a right not to respond to FOI requests that are considered frivolous or where the information is available from another source, so each request should be considered on its merits. I would be interested to hear what has been requested under FOI, as Councillors should not be using these provisions. I have declined to respond to more than half of all FOI requests I have received and on the one occasion when I was reported to the Information Commissioner's office, they agreed with me.

The disclosure of confidential information is a serious offence and could land the Council in hot water, so if you have sufficient evidence, this should be submitted as a code of conduct complaint. The Monitoring Officer shouldn't ignore such a complaint against a district councillor, even though it doesn't relate to that role.

Who decided that the previous Clerk should receive a very large payoff? Was this negotiated through the Council's insurer?

Finally, the section of the model standing orders regarding disorderly conduct at meetings applies to both councillors and members of the public. If members of the Council behave in a disorderly manner, the Chair may invoke these powers. Used in a calm and professional manner, they are a useful tool.

Answer 3

I would be surprised if the policies of the District Council allow the councillor to use their equipment for other positions, such as parish councillor. Bearing in mind what caused this in the first place, you should ask the councillor to provide confirmation from the District Council that in the event of another DSAR, the District Council will allow you access to the ipad to retrieve any relevant documents or communications.

Answer 4

Your council was instantly recognisable given the amount of press/media coverage it has generated over the years. I really don’t know how you have gotten to this point from afar but very troubling and from the bits I’ve seen this is far more complex than a single issue. I don’t think it’s a particularly helpful or practical to have an absolute ban on none-council hardware at this tier for councillors. Your council can still fulfil its obligations through cloud-based solution whereby the council still retains control of the data. Providing a device to all councillors sounds straightforward but others have encountered significant challenges (accessibility & public reaction) at this tier. Some opt for cheap tablets to mitigate public reaction to cost and find actually unusable. Screen sizes & familiarity matter just look at the demographics within sector. Your staff should be provided with devices including phones and it must be made clear to them they cannot use personal devices to conduct council business (like texting councillors or contractors etc) and in reverse using council devices to conduct personal business. This protects staff & council whilst also ensuring separation between contracted hours & free time.

Comments

Thank you all for your responses, it’s very appreciated.
As Progress has said the amount of bad press makes it easy to identify our parish council. I also know that LALC uses our parish council when they do training.
The town wants both of them out but they have both said they aren’t going anywhere. I intend to ask them both on the next full council if they will go following repeated requests from the public.
Re the pay off of the previous clerk as far as I know he arranged everything via an HR company that was being used by the parish council at the time.
I honestly don’t know where we go from here, the monitoring officer can’t sanction them unless someone knows different?

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I'd take a step back and weigh up the rationale in asking individual(s) to resign in a public meeting (believe me i have been tempted as well) particularly If you know they not going anywhere. It just looks like grandstanding & you end up wasting energy on it (back and forth that inevitably follows).

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It is entirely improper for any person - Cllr, chair, public even the MO for that matter - to ask an elected office holder to resign.
Anyone that DOES’T know that is quite likely as much a part of the problem.

Answer 5

What a complete waste of money to provide Parish Councillors with phones I’d be fascinated to know the cost and how much they are used

I was publicly telling of to resign and one clown tried to hold a vote of no confidence I told them to take a hike as it was upto the electorate who their councillors are