Issue - meetings

The Executive had considered a notice of motion submitted by Councillor Kirby which had proposed that recordings of public meetings of the Council should be made available indefinitely, rather than the current twelve months.  The Executive had taken into account the provisions within the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the few occasions on which requests for old recordings had been received, and had drawn up an amended Motion as follows:

“Easy access to Council recordings

This Council resolves that all video recordings of public meetings of Council and its Committees will continue to be made available for public viewing on demand in accordance with the Council’s retention periods. The Council shall continue to keep its retention periods under review with particular regard being given to information held in respect of the Council’s long-term projects.

Archive recordings of all previously public meetings of Council and Council Committees will also be made available on request wherever this is legally and technically possible. The Council shall ensure that residents are fully informed as to how they can access these recordings and that access to this information is available in a quick and simple manner.”

Councillor Kirby, however, considered that recordings should be made available longer through the Council’s website and moved the following amendment, seconded by Councillor Barker:

The following be added to the wording proposed by the Executive:

“In addition, this Council resolves that the current practice of making recordings of public meetings available by request on DVD format after one year be replaced with a continuation of availability online.

Council resolves that the online platform for viewing meetings be extended up to an ideal time of four years as soon as technically possible.”

The Members debated the amendment and the Director of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer, Joanne McIntosh, provided advice on the implications for retaining data for any period of time.  In view of the lack of clarity on the GDPR implications and the unknown costs of retaining recordings on the Council’s website for an additional three years, Councillor Azad moved and Councillor Ashall seconded a proposal to defer consideration of the notice of motion to the next business meeting of Council to allow time for Officers to explore the legal and financial implications.

In accordance with Standing Order 10.8 the names of Members voting for and against the proposal to defer consideration were recorded.

In favour:                                Councillors S Ashall, A Azad, J Brown, K Davis, S Dorsett, G Elson, D Harlow, S Hussain, C Kemp, N Martin, R Mohammed, C Rana and M Whitehand.

Total in favour:                       13

Against:                                  Councillors M Ali, T Aziz, A-M Barker, A Boote, W Forster, D Hughes, I Johnson, A Kirby, R Leach, L Morales, E Nicholson, M I Raja, D Roberts and J Sanderson.

Total against:                         14.

Present not voting:                 The Mayor, Councillor Lyons.

Total present not voting:        1

The proposal to defer was therefore lost by 13 votes in favour to 14 votes against and the Council returned to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7

Reporting Person – Corporate Leadership Team

At its meeting on 10 February 2022, the Council referred the following Notice of Motion to the Executive.

Councillor A Kirby

“Easy access to Council recordings

This Council resolves that all video recordings of public meetings of Council and its Committees will henceforth be made available for public viewing on demand, in perpetuity.

Archive recordings of all previously public meetings of Council and Council Committees will also be made available for public viewing on the same platform, wherever this is legally and technically possible.”

Councillor Kirby attended the meeting and spoke in support of the Motion.  The report before the Executive advised that data could not be retained indefinitely under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provisions and accordingly recommended that the Motion could be supported as amended below:

“Easy access to Council recordings

This Council resolves that all video recordings of public meetings of Council and its Committees will continue to be made available for public viewing on demand in accordance with the Council’s retention periods. The Council shall continue to keep its retention periods under review with particular regard being given to information held in respect of the Council’s long-term projects.

Archive recordings of all previously public meetings of Council and Council Committees will also be made available on request wherever this is legally and technically possible. The Council shall ensure that residents are fully informed as to how they can access these recordings and that access to this information is available in a quick and simple manner.”

Councillor Kirby acknowledged that retaining the recordings indefinitely would not be possible but encouraged the Executive to consider a retention period of 4 to 5 years.  Councillor Kirby suggested that consideration be given to deferring a decision to enable the Council to reconsider the existing contract to review both the technical and legal implications of adopting a longer retention period.

In view of the Officer guidance in respect of the GDPR provisions on data retention and noting the few occasions on which a request had been received to view a recording of a meeting over a year old, the Executive supported the Motion as amended.

RECOMMENDED to Council

That the Motion, as amended, be supported.