Issue - meetings

The Head of Business Transformation introduced the report and in so doing provided background information in respect of the Worcestershire Office for Data and Analytics, the progress made to date together with planned steps for the future.  It was confirmed that endorsement of the charter was being sought from all partner organisations.  Whilst there were no direct financial implications it was noted that a revenue bid for £10k had been submitted as a contribution to further support the project.

Councillor Cooper, as Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources as the Head of Business Transformation to clarify the sort of data that would be shared in order to reassure residents that only appropriate information would be processed.  The Head of Business Transformation confirmed that there were clear guidelines around data sharing and the aim was to improve the services and only appropriate data would be shared.

Members raised concerns around the new GDPR legislation and changes to data protection arrangements, it was confirmed that any arrangements in place would not be affected by the WODA charter and the Council would continue to adhere to the data protection procedures.  Members also raised the issue of those Councillors that were duel hatters and whether there would be any changes to how they received data, as currently they needed to have separate equipment for each Council.  It was explained that this arrangement was due to constraints from the Cabinet Office and whilst the Council continued to discuss this matter with them it was unlikely that this would be resolved in the near future.  It was also added that the ICT Transformation Manager was in discussions with Worcestershire County Council to try and find a satisfactory solution to this issue.

RESOLVED that the Worcestershire data sharing charter attached to the report at appendix 1 be noted and endorsed.