Confidentiality of e-mails sent between parish councillors

Question

I am told that it is OK for a parish clerk to read the emails of any or all councillors (on a 'corporate' email system) without their knowledge if he or she suspects there may be some 'impropriety'. Even messages that are only sent to a small group of councillors, e.g. a personnel committee. Is that true? If it is, is there some level of evidence required? Or is it OK for a clerk to conduct a 'fishing expedition' whenever he or she feels like it?

Answer 1

The The Investigatory Powers (Interception by Businesses etc. for Monitoring and Record-keeping Purposes) Regulations 2018 give businesses powers to read emails in the circumstance you describe.

However for that access to be lawful 'the system controller has made all reasonable efforts to inform every person who may use the telecommunication system that communications transmitted by means of that system may be intercepted'

Answer 2

Taking a slightly different approach to that of AngryResident, the Clerk is your employee and it is up to you (ie. the council) to set the ground rules.

That said, I think it is worth remembering that a parish council is a public authority and - potentially - all emails are subject to the Freedom of Information regime.

On a practical level, my advice to my councillors (I've since retired) was "only commit to writing anything that you would be happy to see published on the front page of the local press".  I realise that is a vast overstatement but it helped me to make a point and focus minds.

Answer 3

Email is probably the least secure form of communication and should always be assumed as open source once sent since no control can be exercised by the originator.

IT communications policy should specify that emails may be examined where appropriate but that is a far cry from having a clerk unilaterally reading emails between Cllrs with no just cause or specific delegation.

There is always the potential for mischievousness if such circumstances are suspected - send something completely outlandish to a trusted recipient then sit back and watch the fireworks

Answer 4

This is always tricky as people tend to think of email as private; but as John1706 says, all council email accounts are potentially subject to FOI requests. The problem arises when councillors need to discuss anything confidential, such as complaints, or employment related matters - this would not be released under FOI, and the Clerk should not automatically have access either.
I would suggest making it clear to the clerk that he/she must have permission from the Chairman/relevant committee to read councillor emails, and must give a specific reason, time interval and relevant email accounts each time.
And then ensure all councillors are aware that anything sent from council email accounts is potentially public communication. It is then up to them to find other ways for private / non-council business communication - and even then it is incredibly easy to accidentally send an email to the wrong person.    
It may also be worth considering what happens to any councillors', and the clerk's, email accounts when someone resigns. The new clerk would likely take over the account from the previous clerk, and it is likely that ex-councillor email accounts would be kept accessible for the Clerk/Chairman for some time, in case there are any ongoing issues where someone needs to refer back to emails on that account