Issue - meetings

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has advised that the nature of work undertaken by Councillors is such that they need consider whether they should be registered individually as Data Controllers. This report is recommending registration for all Councillors and for the Council to meet the cost of such registration as appropriate. 

The Committee agreed that:

(1)          All councillors should be registered as Data Controllers;

(2)          The registration fee for individual registration should be met from Council funds if a Councillors is not already registered as a Data Controller in a capacity other than as a Councillors or if they cease being a dual hatted member.

A report was presented to the Committee informing members that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) had advised that the nature of work undertaken by councillors was such that they needed to consider whether they should be registered individually as Data Controllers.  The report accordingly recommended registration of all councillors and that the Council would meet the cost of such registration as appropriate.

The report highlighted that based on an annual fee for a maximum of 38 councillors, the annual cost to the Council would be £1,520 per annum and that this could be met from within existing budgets.

There were currently four dual-hatted Borough and County Councillors and the costs and responsibility for registration were met by the County Council.  Some councillors might be registered individually as data controllers in respect of their work outside the Council.  In these cases, the councillor would need to add to their role as councillor to their registration.  It was not proposed for the Council to meet the cost of registration in those cases as the fee was dependent on the nature of the main registration.  However, should anything change such that the councillor no longer required their own registration, the Council would meet the cost of registration.

Accordingly, the Committee agreed that:

(1)          All councillors should be registered as Data Controllers;

(2)          The registration fee for individual registration should be met from Council funds if a councillor was not already registered as a Data Controller in a capacity other than as a councillor or if they cease being a dual hatted member.