Use of Whatsapp for operational purposes

Question

Are there any issues with Council officers using Whatsapp for operational purposes (e.g. private communications with other Council employees).  Could councillors ask for the details of who is enrolled in the Whatsapp groups?  (if some, but not all, councillors were enrolled in these groups this would surely be an issue?)

Answer 1

I would have thought that the overriding requirement would be for security for the council's business and governance by the council. A more secure way of doing it would be a closed councillors mailbox to which every councillor would have access and notification of emails therein. If you have a website and domain name registered then your web manager should be able to set this up for you quite quickly and inexpensively. This way any discussions information etc will be a matter of record should there be any questions asked at a later date thus meeting the transparency requirements that PC should be adhering to. What's app, facebook and twitter are not really suited to the level of professionalism required of a council and its business procedures

Answer 2

Whatsapp is encrypted end to end so the security element is pretty tight, but like anything technological could potentially be hijacked. However it is safer than email because emails are not generally encrypted.

Like anything TRANSPARENCY is the key.

Why do you have the whatsapp Group? What’s its core purpose. If the group is to generally discuss business but not make decisions then generally it’s OK, however for transparency the discussions should be saved.
If the group has been set up to create a group of like minded individuals to discuss business and then surprise the content on to others at the full council may cause some hostility.
You also need to be mindful that you’re not discriminating against anyone who is unable to use tech for whatever reason, there must be provision for those people to be involved to.

Additionally you need to be aware of GDPR. Cllr’s or employees may have only agreed to a particular number being made public I.e their landline. By creating a group everyone else can see the numbers of those in the group so do be aware.