Agenda and minutes

Prior to the commencement of the formal business of the meeting, the Chairman explained she had an announcement to make regarding an urgent item of business to be heard by Committee. She stated that arrangements for handling urgent business at committee or sub-committee meetings were governed by statute, which required the chairman’s approval before an urgent item could be considered, and for the reason for the urgency to be recorded in the minutes. She explained that the item was for Amendments to the approved Committee Timetable: Change of Meeting Date – Corporate Policy & Resources Committee, June 2023, and it would be heard with the public reports on the agenda.  

The Chairman further announced that the Council was required under the Local Government Act 1972 to produce a schedule of its meetings. Whilst the Head of Paid Service had a number of delegations in relation to the Committee timetable, as set out in Part 4 of the Constitution, this delegation did not extend to changing already approved dates, in order that the delegation did not compete with the legal requirement to produce a schedule of meetings.

Furthermore, the Chairman noted this was the last meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee, where the schedule of meetings would be approved, and so for that reason, she was in agreement with the request for this to be considered as an urgent item at the meeting.

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

There was no public participation.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee held on 9 February, 2023 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

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

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

Setting out current position of previously agreed actions as at 28 February 2023

With no comments or questions from Members, the Matters Arising Schedule was DULY NOTED.

Members gave consideration to a report from the ICT Manager, seeking approval of the suite of Information Technology Policies, which had been refreshed to ensure they were compliant with the new National Cyber Strategy 2022. It was explained that a total of twelve policies had been refreshed, with the report detailing the amendments to each policy. The Committee also heard that the ICT Manager was in contact with the associated team at Lincolnshire County Council, in order to seek a solution for ‘multi-hatted’ Councillors to be able to use a single device, rather than a device for each Council. He assured Members he would keep them updated but initial conversation had proved positive. After summarising the purpose behind each policy, as well as the security reasons as to why there were some policies that were exempt from being made public, questions and comments from the Committee were invited.

Note:              Councillor T. Young arrived at 6.43pm

Members commented that it was perhaps a sign of the times that it was necessary to have such policies but appreciated their importance in protecting the Council’s data and that of residents. Members were particularly pleased to hear that discussions were continuing with Lincolnshire County Council regarding shared software on one device.

It was confirmed that training arrangements were in place for both Members and Officers in relation to the policies. These arrangements were reviewed on a frequent basis. It was also confirmed that policy reviews were undertaken at North Kesteven District Council, bearing in mind the existing shared service arrangements.

Members noted that the timing for the return of devices from Members who were no longer Councillors had been discussed with Democratic Services and was based on best practice.

Having been moved and seconded, and on the Chairman taking the vote, it was unanimously

RESOLVED that

a)    the ICT Policy report and associated updated policies (as given below) be approved:

·         Information Security Policy (Appendix 1)

·         ICT Disaster Recovery Policy (Appendix 2)

·         Incident Response Action Card Phishing (Appendix 3)

·        Incident Response Action Card Denial of Service (Appendix 4)

·         Incident Response Action Card Malware (Appendix 5)

·         Incident Response Action Card Ransomware (Appendix 6)

·         Network Connection Agreement (Appendix 7)

·         Patch Management Policy (Appendix 8)

·         Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement (Appendix 9)

·         Change Management Procedure (Appendix 10)

·         Remote Working Policy (Appendix 11)

·         Members ICT Policy (Appendix 12)

b)    ICT communicate key changes to staff and Members through Minerva, the Members’ Handbook and the learning management system (Learning Pool), providing the opportunity for staff and Councillors to read and understand the policies and have the process confirmed; and

c)    all newly elected Members receive a copy of the Members’ ICT Policy contained within the Members’ Handbook; and

d)    any future minor housekeeping amendments be delegated to the Director – Change Management, ICT & Regulatory Services, in consultation with the Chairs of the Joint Staff Consultative and Corporate Policy and Resources Committees.

The Committee heard from the Policy and Strategy Officer – Corporate Strategy and Business Planning regarding the Council’s Corporate Plan 2023 – 2027. It was explained that the Corporate Plan which ran to 2023 was due for review and the proposed strategic aims, objectives and outcomes for the upcoming four year period had been incorporated into the updated Plan. The report set out the rationale for the proposals within the Corporate Plan, including the updated policy context, stakeholder engagement and key design principles. The report also included an outline of the monitoring arrangements to assess progress against priorities.

It was explained that the Corporate Plan was the overarching policy document that informed all Council activity, driven by a number of factors including the national, regional and local policy context. In line with the Council’s commitment to evidence based decision making, the identified priorities were based on robust statistical evidence as set out in the Council’s Annual State of the District Report.

The concept of the Corporate Plan was well embedded across the organisation.  A follow-up internal audit of the Corporate Plan and the “Golden Thread”, conducted in November 2021, had returned an opinion of substantial assurance, particularly in relation to stakeholder engagement, communication and managing strategic risk.

Members were advised that the document now presented was the culmination of 12 months of development, centred around extensive engagement with Members to produce a Corporate Plan which reflected the priorities of the Council; and with staff, to ensure that those priorities were understood. Delivery was being planned for thorough business planning, financial planning and project management. It was reported that with many aspects of the Plan being well-embedded across the organisation, officers were tasked with refreshing and updating the current Plan ready for the next administrative period.  Approaching the refresh in this way had allowed for continuity, both for officers, who had been able to continue their strategic business planning, and for Members, so that the post-election administration was not faced with a strategic policy gap for a significant length of time.

The Council’s overarching vision, mission and values had been carried across to the refresh and the themes of “Our Council”, “Our People” and “Our Place” remained in place. This framework had been used to shape key changes, most notably, updating the evidence base, updating the policy context and refreshing the strategic aims, objectives and outcomes.

The aims and objectives formed the core of the document and these were at the centre of the recommendation contained within the report. The outcomes were considered to be robust, and were designed to be challenging whilst also ensuring that clear evidence of progress could be provided against each of the identified outcomes.

In terms of monitoring progress, the monitoring framework was clearly set out within the Corporate Plan. This would be developed further as the Corporate Plan was embedded, for example, ensuring Progress and Delivery measures were clearly aligned to the aims and objectives so that Members had a strategic view of the performance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

The Chairman reminded Members of her statement at the opening of the meeting regarding the urgent item of business to be considered. She invited the Senior Democratic and Civic Officer to present the report. Both the purpose of the report, to seek an amendment to the date of the June meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee, and the reason for it needing to be considered by the Committee at this point, it being the last meeting of the current Civic Year, were reiterated to Members. It was explained that West Lindsey District Council had been shortlisted for the LGC Council of the Year Award, the ceremony for which was scheduled to take place on 9 June 2023. Unfortunately, this was the date scheduled for a meeting of the Committee. In order to ensure maximum flexibility when making arrangements for attendance at the Award Ceremony, it was proposed that the Committee meeting date be amended to 7 June 2023.

A Member of the Committee highlighted that, of the six councils shortlisted for the award, West Lindsey was the only District Council. It was recognised as a remarkable achievement and that to amend the meeting date by one day was a sensible option in order to consider representation at the ceremony. It was also felt that, to make the date change at this time allowed sufficient notice in order to have minimal impact.

The recommendation within the report was duly moved, seconded, and voted upon, and it was

RESOLVED that,for reasons of flexibility to attend the LGC Awards Ceremony, the following change to the 2023/24 Committee Timetable be approved:

a) the meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee scheduled for Thursday, 8 June 2023, be moved to Wednesday, 7 June 2023.

With no comments or questions, the work plan was DULY NOTED.

In bringing the meeting to a close, the Chairman extended her thanks, on the record, to all who had been involved with the Committee over the four year period, both Officers for their preparation and presentation of reports, and Members of the Committee for their commitment and input.