Issue - items at meetings - Joint ICT Service

Report of Councillor P Parkin, Portfolio Holder for Finance

Paragraphs 1, 3 and 4

RESOLVED

(1) That Cabinet noted the measures implemented and recommended in response to learning from the Cleveland and Redcar Ransomware Attack Case Study.

(2) That Cabinet endorsed the proposed structure changes and recommended them to Council for consideration and approval, subject to Bolsover District Council (BDC) and Derbyshire Dales District Council (DDDC) agreeing to these changes.

(3) That if approved by Council, Bolsover District Council and Derbyshire Dales District Council be notified of this Council’s decision and asked to formally endorse the proposed structure changes to the Joint ICT Service.

REASONS FOR DECISION – To enable the Joint ICT Service to protect the Council and partner authorities from ransomware and other cyber-attacks on their electronic information and Communication Systems.

OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND REJECTED - Taking no action and other options were considered but rejected for the reasons specified in the report.

Please note that this was not a Key Decision and so can be implemented with immediate effect by officers.

Cabinet was informed of the cyber-attack which had occurred against Redcar and Cleveland Council and the disruption this had caused. They also heard about the lessons from this attack and how these had been applied by the Joint Information Communication Technology (ICT) Service to help prevent a successful attack from occurring locally.

Members discussed the possible organisational changes to increase the capacity and resilience of the Joint ICT Service. They considered the reasons for the preferred option and the benefits this would have. They also discussed the costs of the new arrangements and how these could be met.