Agenda item

To consider the report (attached).

R Pavey, Service Director (Customer Services), and S Tautz, Democratic Services Manager, were in attendance.

‘Paperless’ committee meetings had been promoted by the Government since 2015 when the Local Government (Electronic Communications) Order 2015 legislation facilitated the use of electronic communications to summon members to meetings. This was provided that members had given their consent to receive agendas electronically, via email, although they could withdraw that consent at any time. With more councils becoming paperless, which was anticipated to become standard practice in local government, the Council continued to look at smarter digital ways of working against the ongoing financial pressures the local government sector was experiencing. Although the frequency of the Council’s committees and the size of these agendas varied widely, around 20,000 pages of agendas, minutes and reports were published annually. Therefore, it was expected the paperless initiative would deliver cost savings.

The new Mod.Gov app for the committee management system allowed members to download agendas, minutes and reports to mobile devices along with annotation tools to aid paperless working. In addition, councillors would each be issued with a standardised domain email address ‘@eppingforestdc.gov.uk’ to address Internal Audit’s concerns around the security of personal data and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

R Pavey reported that mobile devices were being rolled-out to members and so far 52 members out of 58 were in receipt of them. One to one support was being provided if needed. The Customer Services Portfolio Holder, Councillor S Kane, had agreed to three months parallel running with paper copies following members’ concerns and therefore, had delayed the cessation of the distribution of hard copies of agendas until 30 August 2019. Hard copies of agendas would still be required for the public to inspect at the Civic Offices and for the public attending meetings.

Councillor S Rackham was pleased to see the Council had taken this project on to reduce its carbon footprint, which she considered was a good move forward.

Councillor J Philip agreed this was a good thing and welcomed the parallel running to find out what worked and what did not work. It would be useful at planning meetings if on planning applications, members were able to look at the site map and report at the same time.

Councillor M McEwen queried the use of two email addresses - councillors’ original one and the new standardised domain email address ‘@eppingforestdc.gov.uk’. R Pavey replied that ICT was currently working on an option that would enable Council emails to be received on their personal devices.

Councillor S Kane said that the new Mod.Gov app allowed five years of committee papers to be retained. S Tautz continued that in the setting up of the app and the new Mod.Gov software, the new Council email was the default email address. All existing personal and private emails could be used for routine correspondence during this transition until this was resolved.

Councillor H Kane commented that it was easy for councillors to reply from the wrong email address during work hours. She said it was good practice to work on one device for council work to minimise this risk.

Councillor S Jones said that members could elect to have all emails sent to the new email address.

Councillor C C Pond stated that he did not want the new iPad as he already used another device, nor did he want a Council email address. He had refused a device from Essex County Council and had also refused the Outlook web app (OWA). County had taken a different tack and used OWA Windows XP. R Pavey replied that ICT was looking at a secure app and that email would not be secure unless councillors used the Council standardised domain email address.

Councillor S Kane said that the responsibility rested with the Council which had a duty to maintain control, to which Councillor C C Pond replied that this would not work and Councillor J Philip added that this was fundamentally flawed. R Pavey replied that a new solution would protect the Council’s position but would also help councillors work as flexibly as possible.

Councillor C C Pond asked why the email address could not be ‘@efdc.gov.uk’. Councillor S Jones thought use of ‘@efdc.gov.uk’ would be perceived better by the public.

Councillor C Roberts remarked that he had an iPad and had worked paperless for a long while. He had initially accepted the new iPad but found it too cumbersome to carry around and did not want another device. Residents could contact him on his current email address, which he had set up for council work in 2014 and would not want to give it up.

Councillor S Kane replied that the Auditor’s report was driving this and the Council’s desire to go paperless.

Councillor S Heap asked if all the old emails could be transferred. Councillor S Kane said that this was riddled with problems as it was not as straight forward as you would think.

Councillor McEwen said she was emailed agendas from parishes which she forwarded to her iPad.

Councillor C C Pond stated that if you viewed the Council Bulletin through the Mod.Gov app then you could read it in one click. However, if you went through the website then four clicks were needed.

The Chairman asked if members agreed with the recommendations/decisions of the report, to which Councillor C C Pond replied, no. He asked if the word ‘purely’ could be removed from recommendations (2b), (2c) and (3), which was agreed.

            RESOLVED:

(1)          That the Working Group noted current progress with regard to the proposed move to paperless working in respect of the publication and distribution of the Council’s committee agenda and minutes etc.;

(2)          That the following recommendations be made to Council on 30 July 2019:

(a)       in order to complete the roll-out of mobile devices and appropriate training for all members of the Council, the general cessation of the publication and distribution of committee agenda and minutes etc. in hard copy, took effect from 30 August 2019; and

(b)       that, subject to the receipt of appropriate consent from members of the Council to the publication and distribution of committee agenda and minutes etc. by electronic means, such arrangements commenced with effect from 2 September 2019; and

(c)       that, until the commencement of arrangements for the publication and distribution of committee agenda and minutes etc. to members by electronic means, such publication and distribution continued to be made concurrently in both hard-copy and electronic forms; and

(3)          That pursuant to Recommendations 2(a), (b) and (c) above, the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make any necessary revisions to the Council’s Constitution to give effect to the publication and distribution of committee agenda and minutes etc. by electronic means, from 2 September 2019.