5        NATIONAL NON-DOMESTIC RATE DISCRETIONARY RELIEF APPLICATIONS – The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report seeking consideration for the level of National Non-Domestic Rate (NNDR) discretionary relief to be awarded to eligible ratepayers in North Lincolnshire.

The arrangements for the collection of NNDR were set nationally through legislation. The legislation made provision for councils to grant relief to a range of non-domestic properties in a range of defined circumstances. This included, for example, small business relief, charitable relief and empty property relief. Some relief was mandated and must be granted; other relief was discretionary. The council also had a Hardship Relief Scheme for cases of exceptional hardship.

The application of these provisions for granting NNDR relief supported the council in delivering its council plan, specifically the priorities of Enabling Economic Growth and Enabling Resilient and Flourishing Communities.

Under the current regime of part localisation of NNDR, the council funded a proportion of both mandatory and discretionary reliefs it gave.

The report considered one new application for relief and set out the proposed level based on an evaluation against set criteria.

Resolved – That the level of rate relief, as set out in the appendix to the report, be awarded.

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.