Debbie Bonser, Information Governance Manager, presented to the Committee a progress report on Information Governance arrangements within the County Council.
The Committee had previously requested regular updates on progress in developing robust arrangements to manage the County Council's responsibilities to properly maintain the confidentiality and security of information. Since the last report in March 2014, significant progress had been made to create a robust information governance function within the Council.
The Information Governance Team now consisted of ten members of staff all dedicated to:
· Protecting the confidentiality and security of the Council's information
· Giving public access to official information via Freedom of Information requests and access to one's own personal information via Data Protection Subject Access requests
It was also reported that in March 2015 the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) had undertaken a voluntary audit of the new information governance arrangements in place. As a result of the audit, the ICO would not be taking any further action on the information security breaches previously suffered within the Council.
From December 2014 to March 2015, the Council's Internal Audit Service had also carried out an audit of the new information governance arrangements, looking at a controls relating to resources, security breaches, roles and responsibilities, access controls, training, information sharing, records management, policies and an overarching framework.
Internal Audit had concluded that the Council's information governance arrangements now offered substantial assurance.
Resolved: That the Committee note the report