Decision details

6          INFORMATION GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK UPDATE – The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report seeking approval for a series of updates to the council’s Information Governance Framework.

Information was a key council asset and it was crucial that it was looked after with the same care as other important assets, such as finance, people, land and property.

The Information Governance Framework comprised a series of specific policy and procedural schedules relating to the management and security of information and personal data.  They set out how the council would comply with legal and best practice requirements governing information management.  These requirements included the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)/Data Protection Act 2018 and the Freedom of Information Act.

GDPR had been retained in domestic law since the UK left the European Union but the UK now had the independence to keep the framework under review.  The ‘UK GDPR’ as it was now known sat alongside an amended version of the Data Protection Act 2018.

The overarching framework had been updated to include:

•           alignment with UK GDPR

•           data quality as part of the Information Governance Framework

•           an update to the name of the Caldicott Guardian for Health

•           the removal of references to Request for Information (RFI) Co-ordinators who had ceased to exist following the centralisation of the RFI process

•           a re-referencing of the Information Complaints Policy, which was now Schedule 06A

•           the recently updated Digital Technologies Policy which was formerly part of the HR Manual.

In addition, updates had been made to specific information governance policy schedules, details of these were set out in the report.

Resolved – That the proposed changes to the Information Governance Framework, as set out in the report, be approved.