Information
Recognising the legal, strategic and operational importance of its information, the council is adopting a common approach to Information Management through the creation of an Information Management (IMS) Strategy that establishes "Information as an Asset" and which clearly articulates the council's vision on how information should be managed.
The Council is subject to a number of significant legislative and regulatory drivers in terms of how it manages information, most importantly the following:
- The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Data Protection Act (2018)
- Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002/ Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004
- Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011
- Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015
- Human Rights Act 1998
The different requirements of these pieces of legislation result in a complex landscape. The key document in relation to this is the Records Management Plan which was produced under the 2011 Act and approved by the Keeper of the Records of Scotland; this can be seen here. The Records Management Plan incorporates 15 elements which specifically include elements relating to data retention, data protection, information security and sharing information.
Also of key importance is the council's Information Use and Privacy Policy (available here) and, related to this, the Privacy Statement available here.
The Records Management Plan was approved by the Keeper of the Records of Scotland on an "improvement" basis in that the plan itself recognises areas where management of public records within the council (and on the council's behalf by certain external agencies) required improvement to bring it up to best practice. Progress against the improvements identified in the Plan is reported on a four weekly basis to the council's Information Advisory Board. The latest project overview (May 2017) is as follows:
Work on the information asset class is currently being reviewed to ensure the council is able to comply with the requirements of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is due to come into effect in May 2018.
The information asset class has been linked to the "making best use of our resources" theme in the Council Plan. That is not only about complying with all our statutory and regulatory obligations, but also about identifying how information held by the organisation can be shared and used by the wider community and combined with other information to allow good business decisions to be made.
The council publishes a list of information that is available via its website or on request in its Publication Scheme Guide to Information, as required under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2012. This can be accessed here. The council also publishes a list of information that it holds that is available for re-use under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015. This can be accessed here.
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