Agenda and minutes

Up to 15 minutes are allowed for public participation.  Participants are restricted to 3 minutes each.

There was no public participation.

Corporate Policy and Resources Committee meeting dated 6 February 2018.

The minutes of the Corporate Policy and Resources meeting held on 6 February 2018 were approved as a correct record.

Joint Staff Consultative Committee meeting on 29 March.

The minutes of the Joint Staff Consultative Committee meeting held on 29 March 2018 were noted.

Members may make declarations of interest at this point or may make them at any point in the meeting.

There were no declarations of interests.

Setting out current position of previously agreed actions as at 4 April:

The matters arising were agreed.  The one outstanding item in green on Japan Road would come forward at the earliest available opportunity.

The Senior Project Officer for Visitor Economy and Places presented a proposed policy for corporate environmental sustainability.

There was no existing formalised commitment to protecting the environment, although there was an agreed five yearly carbon management plan.  It was deemed appropriate to formulate a policy committing West Lindsey District Council (WLDC) to protecting the environment. 

Submitting a corporate environmental sustainability policy was one of the requirements of a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) bid; the Growth team was working on two such bids.

Expressing a strong commitment towards sustainability was key to WLDC meeting its corporate carbon reduction target of 35% of the baseline of 2008/9.  Good progress was being made against this target.

11 high level aims for this project included:

1.    Reducing greenhouse gas emissions;

2.    Promoting sound waste management practices;

3.    Where possible, purchasing products and services which do the least damage to the environment;

4.    Work in partnership to protect and enhance both the natural and built environment;

5.    Minimising water consumption;

6.    A strong commitment to celebrating, protecting and preserving historic buildings, conservation areas and ancient monuments;

7.    A public transport system with less emphasis on polluting vehicles;

8.    Encouraging good environmental practice;

9.    Remaining compliant with all relevant environmental legislation;

10.  The sustainable use of local materials and expertise;

11.  Work with and encourage Council partners, contractors and suppliers to set and maintain environmental standards similar to WLDCs own standards in environmental protection.

Following questions from Members, further information was provided:

·         Early engagement on the sustainability policy had been sought with Procurement Lincolnshire; the response was that this accorded well with the social value and the localism aspect of procurement;

·         The five yearly procurement plan was passed by WLDC previously.  A yearly carbon audit for the Council was produced.  Regular reporting was a feature of the sustainability policy at WLDC;

·         The policy was not prescriptive so did not have the aim of hindering Council business;

·         The policy will be reviewed on an annual basis;

·         The Planning department would not be bound by the policy of promoting public transport, as they were bound by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

RESOLVED to endorse and authorise the adoption of the proposed Corporate Environmental Sustainability Policy as Council policy.

Members considered a report by the Data Protection Officer on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that would come into force on 25 May 2018.

The report brought two existing policies on data protection, with revisions into line with GDPR.  The following points were raised in relation to GDPR’s data protection policy:

·         Accountability would be put onto ‘data controllers’ such as WLDC around personal data, and would tighten restrictions on what documents could be kept;

·         The existing data protection policy would be updated to include the new rights and revisions provided under GDPR;

·         A privacy compliance framework would be introduced for operation in the near future.

Following questions from members, further information was provided:

·         The costs of implementing GDPR included the purchasing of training and officer time.  However, it had not been necessary to buy new systems for GDPR; there was one concern about suppliers charging for GDPR compliant modules, but the Crown Prosecution Service had put a stop to this;

·         Personal data breaches cannot be authorised retrospectively;

·         Training for officers would be made mandatory on an annual basis.  Non-compliance would be a breach of officers’ terms and conditions;

·         Councillor training was being offered on 25 April and 15 May, in addition to the session that had been held on 10 April.  An online course for Members would be looked into;

·         Parish councils should wait for official guidance from Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils (LALC);

·         Inadvertent breaches of GDPR would more than likely be looked at more favourably than deliberate offences.  WLDC would not look to take action against an employee that had accidentally breached GDPR;

·         For officers, there had been drop in sessions and workshops to raise awareness of GDPR.  Audits had been completed to make sure that all Team Managers were aware of the new policy.  A facility for online courses was available, and this was how WLDC manage and control what courses have been taken.  This was done for safeguarding, for example;

·         An audit of the preparation for GDPR had been undertaken by WLDC’s internal auditors and it had been passed as ‘substantial’;

·         It was hoped that two further training packages could be rolled out in the near future to officers; the subjects would be cyber security and compliance;

·         There would be no charge if an individual requested a copy of the information held on them under GDPR.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Approve the revised Data Protection Policy and its supporting Data Breach Reporting Policy and Procedure for formal adoption;

(2)  Grant delegated authority to the Executive Director of Resources to make minor housekeeping amendments to the policies in future, in consultation with the Chairman of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee and the Chairman of the Joint Staff Consultative Committee (JSCC).

Members considered a report by the Data Protection Officer on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that would come into force on 25 May 2018.

One of the enhanced rights with GDPR was the need to keep individuals (data subjects) informed as to how their data had been collected.

If Members were approached in the street by residents, they would not be allowed to collect information without referring these residents to the privacy notices available on the WLDC website.

For telephone callers into WLDC, people held in the queue would be given the privacy notice whilst they are on hold.  Callers that get through to a Customer Services Advisor would be asked whether they want any further information on how their personal information would be handled.

                        RESOLVED to:

(1)  approve the revised Privacy Notice for formal adoption;

(2)  grant delegated authority to the Executive Director of Resources to make minor housekeeping amendments to the Notice in future, in consultation with the chairman of the Corporate Policy & Resources committee and Chairman of Joint Staff Consultative Committee (JSCC).

Members considered a report from the Senior Growth Officer for the delivery of a Level 3 Engineering Apprenticeship Programme in Gainsborough in partnership with Lincoln College Group and the Made in Gainsborough Engineering Consortium.

The Senior Growth Officer highlighted what would be part of the programme:

·         Additional support for the programme had come from Bishop Grosseteste University (BG) and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP);

·         The project aimed to primarily attract up to 75 16-18 year olds onto a two year engineering apprenticeship programme over the next three years.  Learners would be expected to complete a generic Level 2 qualification, delivered at Gainsborough College as a full-time course.  Students would earn a salary of £160 per week;

·         Travel costs would be mitigated due to the course being delivered at Gainsborough College;

·         The main benefit would be the creation of jobs for young people.  Spin off benefits included upskilling and multiskilling existing employees.  There would also be job opportunities for unemployed adult learners;

·         Siemens had asked to be involved with the group; they had just developed an apprenticeship under the ‘Trailblazer’ project.  In addition, Grantham would like to set up a Kesteven project;

·         Gainsborough had received 60 applications for apprenticeships.  Most of these applicants were young people from Gainsborough and the surrounding areas;

·         The funding gap had arisen because WLDC needed to equip Gainsborough College with £155k worth of engineering equipment that they don’t currently have.  Gainsborough College had input £80k as a capital contribution, and they would also meet 100% of the revenue costs.

Gainsborough Development Fund had made an offer of £75k for the gap in the funding, which was to go ahead.  Terms and conditions were being drawn up.  The college would have to apply for this funding through the Gainsborough Growth Fund process;

·         The LEP had come forward and were prepared to input up to £29k;

·         The employer contribution would meet £8,500 of the salary costs.

Following questions from Members, further information was provided:

·         The course would be at Level 2 for the first year, moving onto Level 3 in the second year;

·         If WLDC’s input of £75k was not required to be spent then it wouldn’t;

·         The £75k would be funded from the business rates retention pilot;

·         This was an employer led initiative, and the course was requested by these employers in Gainsborough.  The employers were also leading on what qualifications they wanted to see from the course;

Note: Councillor John McNeill declared an interest as he knew socially the current and former Vice-Chancellor at Bishop Grosseteste University.

·         WLDC were not expecting to have significant recovery rights on the equipment provided to the College;

RESOLVED to:

(1)  support the proposal for officers to seek external funding for the project as a priority;

(2)  ring-fence up to £75k of the Investment for Growth Earmarked Reserve and thereby utilise some of the gain from Business Rates to gap fund the project. This will only be utilised should the project be unsuccessful in securing external funds as outlined in 1  ...  view the full minutes text for item 117.

The Executive Director of Resources drew Members attention to the withdrawal of a paper on Gainsborough Cemetery extension.  This would come back at a later date.

The work plan was noted.