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Councillors and committees

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Bridges Room - Civic Centre

Contact: Sonia Stewart - Tel: 0191433 3045 - Email:  soniastewart@gateshead.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

CR20

Minutes pdf icon PDF 93 KB

The Committee is asked to approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2019 (attached).

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

(i)            The minutes of the last meeting held on 21 January 2019 were approved as a correct record.

CR21

Review on Helping to Increase Support/Capacity of the Voluntary Sector : Evidence Gathering Session No 3 - Financial Assistance pdf icon PDF 86 KB

Report of the Acting Strategic Director, Communities and Environment

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report to provide details of the variety of funding programmes that are available to provide financial assistance available to community and voluntary sector groups in Gateshead.

 

Representatives from three organisations were also in attendance to provide the Committee with an update on activities and support available through their respective organisations, these were: The National Lottery Community Fund, The Ballinger Charitable Trust and The Community Fund.

 

From the presentation the Committee were advised that The Community Foundation (Tyne and Wear and Northumberland) is arguably the biggest and best organisation of its kind in the UK, and part of a national and global movement that started in 1914 that matches generous people to important causes in the community.

 

The following was also highlighted:

 

      Each year hundreds of grants are awarded to small charities across NE England, through funds set up by numerous donors.

      It also seeks to encourage greater investment in the region by national funders and help broker relationships between community organisations and people wishing to donate time and expertise.

      It has four identified priorities: Poverty, mental health and wellbeing, diversity and inclusion and funding “cold spots” where funding is scarce.

      From September 2016 394 grants (totalling £1.54m, ranging from £200-£35,000) have been awarded in Gateshead.

      The median annual grant size for Gateshead over the last 3 years was £3,916: markedly lower than for Newcastle (£5,396) or Sunderland (£4,300)..

      The Foundation will try to:

o   Work with donors to prioritise Gateshead.

o   Use its discretionary funds to target Gateshead as a “cold spot”.

o   Encourage more and better applications through building the capacity of Gateshead’s VCS and increasing the level of access to Community Foundation funds.

 

The Committee were advised that The Ballinger Charitable Trust is a small family run Trust that invests in small local projects and charitable causes in the North East. From their presentation, the following was highlighted:

 

      It has a simple and easy online application process for its main grants programme (up to £5,000) with priorities around young people and older people.

      Grants will cover most costs, including core costs.

      It collaborates with other charities and funding partners on larger projects.

      It has recently piloted two smaller community level micro grant programmes in Chopwell and Bensham and Saltwell which involved meeting project leads as they pitched for small amounts of funding (circa £500 maximum).

      The Trust values personal engagement and relationships with applicants recognising the need for support and encouragement and helps the Trust gain a better understanding of community needs.

      The Trust understands the burdens on VCS organisations and recognises the need to do things differently by simplifying its funding programmes to reduce bureaucracy and complexity – placing fewer demands on applicants.

      It understands that better use of data, appropriate targeting of (ever reducing) resources and effective collaboration would increase the potential impact in Gateshead.

 

From the presentation, the Committee were also advised that The National Lottery Community Fund  ...  view the full minutes text for item CR21

CR22

Annual Report - Information Governance and the Council's use of Powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 pdf icon PDF 116 KB

Report of the Strategic Director, Corporate Services and Governance

Minutes:

The Committee received a report providing an overview of arrangements for Information Governance across the Council.

 

From the report it was highlighted that public trust in the way public services handle and share data is increasingly important, particularly in the context of greater digital storage transfer of information. It was also highlighted that success in this area depends on many factors, but effective and secure exchange and management of information is vital for both food service delivery and for compliance with an increasingly onerous and prescriptive legislative framework at both a national and European level.

 

It was noted from the report that the Council formed an information rights working party in March 2017 to start preparing for GDPR implementation. The following work that has been done was highlighted from the report:

 

a)    Information asset registers have been completed, these contain the information we are required to compile under Article 30.

b)    Privacy notices have been prepared.

c)    Web pages have been updated to include contact details of the Data Protection Officer and to advise people how they can exercise their new rights.

d)    Consent forms have been revised to be GDPR compliant.

e)    Data Collection forms and systems have been re-engineered to comply with data minimisation and privacy by design.

f)     Over 300 contractual agreements have been reviewed.

g)    Forms and procedures have been devised for privacy impact assessments.

h)    All schools have received training.

i)     Training for governors has taken place.

j)     Training for Councillors has taken place, Councillors have been provided with an awareness leaflet.

k)    Over 560 face to face training sessions have been delivered to Council, GHC, NEPO and school staff.

l)     This training was supplemented with a DVD which is on the intranet and a staff awareness leaflet.

m)  Contract variation letters and data processing addendums have been sent to our suppliers. GDPR compliant clauses have been drafted for all new contracts.

n)    Model data controller/processor agreements and data sharing agreements have been prepared.

o)    Data breach reporting procedures and privacy impact assessment procedures and forms have been devised.

p)    All information rights working party members have been trained on how to use them.

 

The Committee were also made of a variety of data breaches as highlighted in the report and the changes that were implemented to prevent them happening again. It was acknowledged that within every organisation there will be data breaches and that such breaches can now be reported to the Data Protection Officer (DPO) via a new mailbox.

 

From the report the Committee were provided with an overview of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). It was highlighted that the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 amended RIPA to restrict when Councils can use RIPA. It was noted that an authorisation for directed surveillance of CHIS can only be made by Councils if certain conditions are met. It was also stated that Gateshead Council uses its powers under RIPA when it is appropriate to do so; details of which were provided  ...  view the full minutes text for item CR22

CR23

Annual Work Programme pdf icon PDF 58 KB

Report of the Chief Ececutive and the Strategic Director, Corporate Services and Governance.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Work Programme report and appendix was submitted to the Committee for information.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(i)            The Committee noted the Work Programme 2018/19.

 

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