responsibility for the legal compliance of website is the Council's or the Clerk's?

Question

Transparency compliance. GDPR, Accessibility Regulations are  legal requirements for Public Sector websites. Where does the responsibility lie for making sure the council's website is legal? Is it The Clerk or the Council as a corporate body?

Answer 1

It is the collective responsibility of the council. If the Clerk is in breach, the council must resolve it. That said many cllrs will argue they are not IT savvy and it isn't their job to monitor the website.

Answer 2

It is definitely the responsibility of the council and if the Clerk is falling short, then they will have to go down the performance and disciplinary route.  As GraemeR mentions, a lot of councillors will claim ignorance with IT (and in other cases, employment law) but that will fall in deaf ears if pursued by the ICO.

Answer 3

The Council have the ultimate responsibility in ensuring everything is legal. However, the Clerk by the very nature of her role should ensure this is just so and one would expect the auditor may pick up on this as part of the governance review. If the Clerk fails to action such matters or reports back to the PC then performance management proceedings should be started.

Of course, the Clerk may not be completely aware of all the governance and can seek advice from the local associations, Clerk, SLCC, auditor or solicitor (Who may be on a retainer from the borough/County council).