Agenda item

To consider a report by the Associate Director, Legal and Democratic Services, recommending that a provision should be added to the Protocol on Member/Officer Relations and the Member Code of Conduct which prohibits the audio and/or visual recording of private meetings (including private video and telephone calls) unless the prior consent of those attending has been obtained. 

The Committee considered a report by the Associate Director, Legal and Democratic Services, recommending that a provision be added to the Council’s –

1.     Protocol on Member/Officer Relations; and

2.     The Member Code of Conduct,

prohibiting the audio and/or visual recording of private meetings (including private video and telephone calls) unless the prior consent of those attending had been obtained.

Stephen Rix, Associate Director, Legal and Democratic Services, presented the report.

In the subsequent discussion, the following points were raised.

a)    A Member noted that the previous report on the agenda (Item 10: Proposed Amendment to The Constitution on Standards Procedure) had recommended that the Council adopt the Local Government Association (LGA) Code of Practice on Standards, while the present report recommended that the Council, which had adopted the LGA Model Code of Conduct (“the LGA model”), move away from the LGA model.

b)    Regarding compliance with existing statutory requirements, it was submitted by a Member that elected councillors were not public authorities for the purposes of the Human Rights Act, Freedom of Information Act, and General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and, therefore, the present proposals went beyond the requirements of these statutory provisions, binding councillors in a way not provided for in the statutory framework.

It was noted that not all of the statutory requirements apply to individual Members. The main provisions that would apply to Members would be in relation to data protection and the protection of Confidential Information.

c)     Regarding recordings that may be made in compliance with statutory requirements, for example, handwritten verbatim notes which were for personal use and, therefore, exempt from GDPR as the person taking the notes would remain the Data Controller, it was noted that there was a distinction between handwritten notes and an audio and/or other type of video/electronic recording. Accordingly, it was these types of recordings that were given greater protection by Data Protection  provisions.

d)    A Member submitted that under the Communications Act 2003 there were specific restrictions on the recording of phone calls and other types of communication such as Microsoft Teams meetings. Therefore, prohibiting the recording of “other” conversations for personal use, was problematic.

e)    It was noted that, if all the parties to a conversation gave their permission for a conversation to be recorded, then it would be permissible to record that conversation.

In response to a proposal by the Chair that the Committee move to consider the recommendations set out in the report, Councillor Cooper, seconded by Councillor Hearn, proposed the following amendment to the recommendations:

“That recordings solely for personal use which were in accordance with Data Protection Act and case law, be exempt from the proposed provisions [prohibiting the audio and/or visual recording of private meetings]”.

On a vote on the proposed amendment to the recommendations set out in the report, the vote was, as follows.

For:                       3

Against:                9

Abstentions:         0

The Chair, seconded by Councillor Scarth, moved that the Committee approve the recommendations as set out in the report. The result of the vote was, as follows.

For:                       9

Against:                3

Abstentions:         0

RESOLVED: That the Committee recommend to Full Council –

i)         The adoption of the additional wording to the Protocol on Member/Officer Relations detailed at Annex 1.

ii)        The adoption of the additional wording to the Member Code of Conduct detailed at Annex 2