This report provides an update on the actions in progress to improve the Council’s policies, systems and processes around Information Governance.

The Committee considered a report outlining the action underway to improve the Council’s policies, systems and processes for Information Governance following several limited assurance reports in this area.

The report provided an update on: the action being taken to address the backlog of Subject Access Requests; the on-time responses to FOI requests, which stood at 73.1% in Quarter 1, slightly down on the 74.6% recorded in Quarter 4 of 2023/24; the ongoing work to increase FOI responses within the required timescale to 90%, as expected by the Information Commissioner’s Office; data transparency; the work of the Information Governance (IG) Board; the Information Management Strategy, which set out the Council’s approach to information management and governance; and uptake of the compulsory Cyber Security training for all staff and Members, which would be followed-up to improve compliance.  In relation to the latter, data on the completion of the training by RBC employees showed 92.8% of IT users had completed the Cyber Security module and 92.7% had completed the GDPR module. The completion of the training by BFfC staff was at 78.1% for both the Cyber Security and the GDPR module. 

The Committee noted that the on-time FOI response rate had remained persistently below the 90% expected by the Information Commissioner’s Office.  The Information Rights Services Manager and the Customer Relations Team Manager had continued to work with the RBC Project Team and the supplier to improve performance through the implementation of the Council’s new case management system in July 2024.  The new system would provide data/reports more promptly than the previous system and regular reports would be generated by the Customer Relations Manager and shared with senior managers for oversight. This new system would also generate reminders to responding officers.  The Committee was content to allow time for the new system to be embedded but requested that if on-time responses continued to be disappointing, appropriate officers should be invited to attend future meetings to explain the issues they were experiencing that were causing under-performance in this area.

The report stated that the current focus would be on: continuing the work with the two groups of Data Stewards; and training and user acceptance training on the redaction software.

Resolved:      

(1)        That the progress being made to improve the Council’s Information Governance be noted and the future actions outlined in the report be endorsed;

(2)        That the introduction of a new case management system to address the under-performance in responding to FOI requests on-time be welcomed but if there was not sufficient improvement in on-time responses within the next six months, the Assistant Director of Legal & Democratic Services be asked to invite the appropriate officers to attend the Committee to explain the issues they were experiencing that had prevented their service(s) from responding to FOIs in a timely manner;

(3)        That the work to improve take-up amongst RBC staff of Cyber Security and GDPR training, which had reached 92.8% for both courses, be commended.